So a big huge THANK YOU from the kids and us for the treats. Thank you Jana!
~Ciao
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Holiday Fun
Today KC came home from work with an exciting little box for the kids. His boss bought him a Holiday Rice Krispy Treat kit for the kids to make. It was so much fun to see their faces all lit up with excitement. I had to post some pictures of our fun.
So a big huge THANK YOU from the kids and us for the treats. Thank you Jana!
~Ciao
So a big huge THANK YOU from the kids and us for the treats. Thank you Jana!
~Ciao
Friday, December 11, 2009
Cort's School Piano Recital
So today was Cort's piano recital. It was so wonderful! I got there just in the nick of time. He did so wonderfully I just HAD to post it for family and friends who couldn't make it.
So after the kids finished up their amazing recital the teachers played a piece. Unfortunately I didn't get my camera ready in time to record ALL of it but I did get some and it was amazing.
So after the kids finished up their amazing recital the teachers played a piece. Unfortunately I didn't get my camera ready in time to record ALL of it but I did get some and it was amazing.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Thank you Salt Lake City department of Justice!!! (sarcasm in type...)
Have you ever been so upset and angry about something you can't do anything about? I've reached the end of my rope. I honestly don't know what I could have done differently in my situation so I've decided I'm going to write out my feelings of frustration in hope that I feel a little tiny bit better afterward.
Let us go back in time...to about 6 months ago when my car registration expired. I went in and got everything paid for and updated at our local car shop. I got a little white paper that I was told to fold on the dotted line and put in my rear window. I did as I was supposed to. I neatly folded my little magical "I did it right" paper and placed it in my rear window. Now I needed to pay for my car insurance and was unable to do so after the cost of the registration. So as I was told to I legally parked my car in the back of my apartment building until I could pay for my car insurance and drive it legally. Now here is the kicker...APPARENTLY my sweet little girl moved said paper as she didn't know its "magical properties" and she didn't realize that said "magical properties" only worked if they were placed in the car rear window. She thought that Mommy had forgotten this paper and put it on my driver side seat as she was exiting the car so that I would see what a good girl she had been when I got back in the car later. Now I didn't go anywhere near my car for a good 3 days until KC had been paid again and he had proof of insurance. (another magical paper with special properties but this one is only magical when sitting inside your glove compartment) In the meanwhile I had been walking for about 2 hours a day. Its about a 30 minute walk to my children s school then I walk back then I walk there again to pick them up and walk back again. For those of you who know me I have plantar faciitis in both of my feet so this is a rather painful 3 days for me. I was so happy to make one final walk to the back of my apartment to place the magical insurance paper in my glove box when I got there I saw on the windshield wiper 2 blue papers. I took the papers out and to my surprise they were 2 tickets from the police department. I was rather surprised that my magical rear window paper had apparently be for nothing. Perhaps I forgot to dance with this magical paper in the pale moon light at midnight? What did I do wrong? The tickets I got from the police department had been sitting on my windshield for 3 days now in several rain storms. The blue envelope they thoughtfully provided for me had been rained on and actually bled through on the ticket itself making it illegible. Now I knew what the ticket was but was confused as to what it was for as I had a magical paper!!! So I did what I thought I should and took the mess of blue into my apartment and called the police department number I got from the phone book and expressed to them that I got a ticket and where my car was when it got the ticket but that I was confused as to what it could be for. The nice lady on the phone told me everything would be OK and that as it was illegible and I couldn't read the little number back to her that they would be mailing me something in the mail letting me know what it was for and what needed to be done. As promised about 2 weeks later I got a lovely paper in the mail telling me that I was ticketed not once...but twice on separate days for having an unregistered vehicle. I told her all about the magical paper who's properties were a mystery to me but that it should have kept any ugly blue messy papers off of my car. She actually laughed at me. She laughed at me and said "ma'am if you had the paper on your rear window you never would have been ticketed. These police officers know their job and they have done this a few times and wouldn't ticket you if had that paper in your window" After I got off the phone with her I ran down to my car (yes I actually ran...my kids were shocked too...mom doesn't run.) It was at this point that I realized what my little girl had unknowingly done. I took the paper and ran back up to the apartment and called the woman back and explained it to her. She told me I would have to take my paper down to the Salt Lake City Justice Department to take care of any disputes. Now I will admit that a few days went by before I did but no more than a week and I walked in to the Justice Department and got searched and felt up by a huge scary woman (apparently women can hide things in their bra under wire...gotta check there right?) Then I went to a huge line and pulled a number and then I had to wait in what is quite possibly the most uncomfortable chair in the world for about 30 minutes before my number was called. At this point I met the one person in this whole mess who treated me like a person and not a checkbook. The man was very kind and understanding and told me that since I had my magical paper that proves that I didn't do anything wrong outside of letting my daughter touch said magical paper he could take the charge of $240 off and bring it down to $25. I was so pleased I was happy to pay it and put this whole mess behind me. He signed off on my little paper and I walked over to a new line to pay for my ticket. All done right? No...about a month later I get another paper in the mail saying I owed them for the ticket and that I was in danger of being served a court date if I didn't pay it in a week as now I have wasted all this court time and caused all this paperwork for these poor poor people who sit in an office and stamp papers all day. Well of course I was shocked! I picked up the phone and called the Justice department right away. I spoke to a nice young woman on the phone and she explained to me that it must have been some kind of mistake because the man who signed off on my ticket only signed off on ONE of them and not both. So their computer said I still owed $120 on one ticket and that the other one was paid off. I told her what was done and that it should all be done and taken care of. She said to me "oh I see. There must have just been a mistake in the computer is all. I'm going to take care of this now and just delete it out of our system with a note saying that you paid for both of these on your last visit" Well I was delighted that this was taken care of and behind me (for the second time) and hung up with that relieved feeling that all was right in the universe again. I had forgotten about this business completely when I got a knock on my door about a month later. I opened up the door and a woman stood there and said "are you Karen Coon?" I said "yes" and she handed me a paper and said "I need your signature here please" I looked down at the paper and said "whats this?" she says "this is for a ticket you failed to pay 3 months ago...You have been served" Well you can imagine my shock and dismay at the complete FAILURE of the Salt Lake City Justice Department at this point. I verbalized a rather long stream of profanities that I'm grateful my kids did not hear as they were at school. The poor woman just said "don't shoot the messenger" to which I smiled and apologized for my rude outburst and signed the papers and let her be on her way. It was at this point that I pondered the fact that they have police men running up and down the streets surrounding low income apartments and not only ticketing them but coming back the following day to ticket them again. This is how they fund their incompetent search for "real criminals". I was absolutely disgusted. After I finished crying I cleaned myself up and called my husband on the phone to tell him what happened and he told me to go down and take care of it in person while the kids were in school. I drove back down to the Justice Court and got felt up by another huge scary woman (damn those under wire bra's) and took a number and got in line again. This time I was not as fortunate as to having a kind understanding person on the other side. The woman I had to speak with was not only rude but she talked down to me like I was a 6 year old who didn't understand basic English. She called me a liar told me she was"impressed with the lengths i was willing to go to avoid paying a ticket I obviously deserved" and told me that its not the police mans job to "search my car for my paperwork" I probably could have argued further with her but at this point all I could think of was my frustrations at the simple things in life that I couldn't pay for. I have been donating plasma twice a week now for months to help my poor husband who works all day long and is just as frustrated at our finances as I am. The $50 a week I get from this donating usually ends up going toward basic needs like groceries and cleaning supplies. We have had a really hard run this last year and a half and nothing seems to be going our way. Every time we get to a point where we can pat ourselves on the back and say "good job! the rent is paid" or "way to go! we have groceries for 2 weeks" something else comes our way. KC does so much for our family to get by and I try and help out but with my time restraints on being here when the kids get home from school and trying to be a good housewife (and failing) it all just seems to go down the crapper. At any rate I ended up telling the woman how wrong all of this was and I believe I said "What can I do? I haven't done anything wrong! I'm being charged a ticket for something I haven't done! I did everything right!" and I am ashamed to say I actually let that witch of a woman see me cry. I'm sure she walked in the back of the office and told everybody in the break room how she brought a liar down to tears and how awful a person I am but at the end of the conversations she said "I can take it down to $40. Can you pay that today?" Between each sobbing breath I said "no...I'm afraid I cant." and she said I had until December 2nd to pay it off. Here comes the part where I DID do wrong. I forgot about the court date. I have had so much on my mind with trying to find a new job and stressing over Christmas that I completely forgot. That part I'm willing to admit was completely my fault. So now I owe the court $150 and if I don't pay that soon ( and no...I cant) they will issue a warrant out for me. In honesty I hope they do arrest me. I hope they do so I can say "Hey! 3 square meals at the taxpayers expense? I'M IN!" You ever get that feeling that things can't get any worse? and then inevitably they do? That's me...except on a weekly basis. I've reached the end of my rope with these people!
Have any of you seen that movie "A knights tale"? There is a line in there where the man who plays the writer Chaucer has debt collectors come and collect on a debt after they stripped him of his clothes and everything that he had on him they then try and get the money out of his friend. His friend pays for the debt then Chaucer turns to the debt collectors and tell them "I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity" I'm afraid that's all I can possibly do to these people. Write about them and hope I feel better about it when I'm done.
So here's to you Salt Lake City Department of Justice! *cheers* to you who have taken down the REAL criminals with your lies and your fake paperwork sent out to citizens in low-income apartments in the butt crack of Salt Lake! Way to go! You got another one! I'm sure there will be an extra bonus in your Christmas stockings this year! High Fives all around! You F'ing WIN!
...I'm sure in about a week I will regret posting this. But I don't think it matters...and if it does I'll delete it then. lol
~ciao
Let us go back in time...to about 6 months ago when my car registration expired. I went in and got everything paid for and updated at our local car shop. I got a little white paper that I was told to fold on the dotted line and put in my rear window. I did as I was supposed to. I neatly folded my little magical "I did it right" paper and placed it in my rear window. Now I needed to pay for my car insurance and was unable to do so after the cost of the registration. So as I was told to I legally parked my car in the back of my apartment building until I could pay for my car insurance and drive it legally. Now here is the kicker...APPARENTLY my sweet little girl moved said paper as she didn't know its "magical properties" and she didn't realize that said "magical properties" only worked if they were placed in the car rear window. She thought that Mommy had forgotten this paper and put it on my driver side seat as she was exiting the car so that I would see what a good girl she had been when I got back in the car later. Now I didn't go anywhere near my car for a good 3 days until KC had been paid again and he had proof of insurance. (another magical paper with special properties but this one is only magical when sitting inside your glove compartment) In the meanwhile I had been walking for about 2 hours a day. Its about a 30 minute walk to my children s school then I walk back then I walk there again to pick them up and walk back again. For those of you who know me I have plantar faciitis in both of my feet so this is a rather painful 3 days for me. I was so happy to make one final walk to the back of my apartment to place the magical insurance paper in my glove box when I got there I saw on the windshield wiper 2 blue papers. I took the papers out and to my surprise they were 2 tickets from the police department. I was rather surprised that my magical rear window paper had apparently be for nothing. Perhaps I forgot to dance with this magical paper in the pale moon light at midnight? What did I do wrong? The tickets I got from the police department had been sitting on my windshield for 3 days now in several rain storms. The blue envelope they thoughtfully provided for me had been rained on and actually bled through on the ticket itself making it illegible. Now I knew what the ticket was but was confused as to what it was for as I had a magical paper!!! So I did what I thought I should and took the mess of blue into my apartment and called the police department number I got from the phone book and expressed to them that I got a ticket and where my car was when it got the ticket but that I was confused as to what it could be for. The nice lady on the phone told me everything would be OK and that as it was illegible and I couldn't read the little number back to her that they would be mailing me something in the mail letting me know what it was for and what needed to be done. As promised about 2 weeks later I got a lovely paper in the mail telling me that I was ticketed not once...but twice on separate days for having an unregistered vehicle. I told her all about the magical paper who's properties were a mystery to me but that it should have kept any ugly blue messy papers off of my car. She actually laughed at me. She laughed at me and said "ma'am if you had the paper on your rear window you never would have been ticketed. These police officers know their job and they have done this a few times and wouldn't ticket you if had that paper in your window" After I got off the phone with her I ran down to my car (yes I actually ran...my kids were shocked too...mom doesn't run.) It was at this point that I realized what my little girl had unknowingly done. I took the paper and ran back up to the apartment and called the woman back and explained it to her. She told me I would have to take my paper down to the Salt Lake City Justice Department to take care of any disputes. Now I will admit that a few days went by before I did but no more than a week and I walked in to the Justice Department and got searched and felt up by a huge scary woman (apparently women can hide things in their bra under wire...gotta check there right?) Then I went to a huge line and pulled a number and then I had to wait in what is quite possibly the most uncomfortable chair in the world for about 30 minutes before my number was called. At this point I met the one person in this whole mess who treated me like a person and not a checkbook. The man was very kind and understanding and told me that since I had my magical paper that proves that I didn't do anything wrong outside of letting my daughter touch said magical paper he could take the charge of $240 off and bring it down to $25. I was so pleased I was happy to pay it and put this whole mess behind me. He signed off on my little paper and I walked over to a new line to pay for my ticket. All done right? No...about a month later I get another paper in the mail saying I owed them for the ticket and that I was in danger of being served a court date if I didn't pay it in a week as now I have wasted all this court time and caused all this paperwork for these poor poor people who sit in an office and stamp papers all day. Well of course I was shocked! I picked up the phone and called the Justice department right away. I spoke to a nice young woman on the phone and she explained to me that it must have been some kind of mistake because the man who signed off on my ticket only signed off on ONE of them and not both. So their computer said I still owed $120 on one ticket and that the other one was paid off. I told her what was done and that it should all be done and taken care of. She said to me "oh I see. There must have just been a mistake in the computer is all. I'm going to take care of this now and just delete it out of our system with a note saying that you paid for both of these on your last visit" Well I was delighted that this was taken care of and behind me (for the second time) and hung up with that relieved feeling that all was right in the universe again. I had forgotten about this business completely when I got a knock on my door about a month later. I opened up the door and a woman stood there and said "are you Karen Coon?" I said "yes" and she handed me a paper and said "I need your signature here please" I looked down at the paper and said "whats this?" she says "this is for a ticket you failed to pay 3 months ago...You have been served" Well you can imagine my shock and dismay at the complete FAILURE of the Salt Lake City Justice Department at this point. I verbalized a rather long stream of profanities that I'm grateful my kids did not hear as they were at school. The poor woman just said "don't shoot the messenger" to which I smiled and apologized for my rude outburst and signed the papers and let her be on her way. It was at this point that I pondered the fact that they have police men running up and down the streets surrounding low income apartments and not only ticketing them but coming back the following day to ticket them again. This is how they fund their incompetent search for "real criminals". I was absolutely disgusted. After I finished crying I cleaned myself up and called my husband on the phone to tell him what happened and he told me to go down and take care of it in person while the kids were in school. I drove back down to the Justice Court and got felt up by another huge scary woman (damn those under wire bra's) and took a number and got in line again. This time I was not as fortunate as to having a kind understanding person on the other side. The woman I had to speak with was not only rude but she talked down to me like I was a 6 year old who didn't understand basic English. She called me a liar told me she was"impressed with the lengths i was willing to go to avoid paying a ticket I obviously deserved" and told me that its not the police mans job to "search my car for my paperwork" I probably could have argued further with her but at this point all I could think of was my frustrations at the simple things in life that I couldn't pay for. I have been donating plasma twice a week now for months to help my poor husband who works all day long and is just as frustrated at our finances as I am. The $50 a week I get from this donating usually ends up going toward basic needs like groceries and cleaning supplies. We have had a really hard run this last year and a half and nothing seems to be going our way. Every time we get to a point where we can pat ourselves on the back and say "good job! the rent is paid" or "way to go! we have groceries for 2 weeks" something else comes our way. KC does so much for our family to get by and I try and help out but with my time restraints on being here when the kids get home from school and trying to be a good housewife (and failing) it all just seems to go down the crapper. At any rate I ended up telling the woman how wrong all of this was and I believe I said "What can I do? I haven't done anything wrong! I'm being charged a ticket for something I haven't done! I did everything right!" and I am ashamed to say I actually let that witch of a woman see me cry. I'm sure she walked in the back of the office and told everybody in the break room how she brought a liar down to tears and how awful a person I am but at the end of the conversations she said "I can take it down to $40. Can you pay that today?" Between each sobbing breath I said "no...I'm afraid I cant." and she said I had until December 2nd to pay it off. Here comes the part where I DID do wrong. I forgot about the court date. I have had so much on my mind with trying to find a new job and stressing over Christmas that I completely forgot. That part I'm willing to admit was completely my fault. So now I owe the court $150 and if I don't pay that soon ( and no...I cant) they will issue a warrant out for me. In honesty I hope they do arrest me. I hope they do so I can say "Hey! 3 square meals at the taxpayers expense? I'M IN!" You ever get that feeling that things can't get any worse? and then inevitably they do? That's me...except on a weekly basis. I've reached the end of my rope with these people!
Have any of you seen that movie "A knights tale"? There is a line in there where the man who plays the writer Chaucer has debt collectors come and collect on a debt after they stripped him of his clothes and everything that he had on him they then try and get the money out of his friend. His friend pays for the debt then Chaucer turns to the debt collectors and tell them "I will eviscerate you in fiction. Every pimple, every character flaw. I was naked for a day; you will be naked for eternity" I'm afraid that's all I can possibly do to these people. Write about them and hope I feel better about it when I'm done.
So here's to you Salt Lake City Department of Justice! *cheers* to you who have taken down the REAL criminals with your lies and your fake paperwork sent out to citizens in low-income apartments in the butt crack of Salt Lake! Way to go! You got another one! I'm sure there will be an extra bonus in your Christmas stockings this year! High Fives all around! You F'ing WIN!
...I'm sure in about a week I will regret posting this. But I don't think it matters...and if it does I'll delete it then. lol
~ciao
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