Rosie Visits the Vet

Ok, so I know not ALL of you are cat lovers out there, but I have to share this one. For those of you who know cats, you may find this entertaining. For those who know Rosie, you will find this hysterical.

This is Rosie. She is 9 years old and the sweetest domestic medium hair you have ever met. Rosie spends a majority of her days snuggled in our bed napping.

 
She spends her evenings curled up on my lap or playing with John.

She loves certain people, like Haden. And she loves to snuggle with Haden, but isn't always mindful of leaving enough room for him when sharing a seat :)

 But if she doesn't love you, she leaves you alone. When we have company, she hides under the bed and only comes out for certain people.

We have always found her quirkiness cute. For example, Rosie will have nothing but fresh running water from the tap. No bowl of stagnant water will do for her!

Well, she will also share whatever you are drinking from a Solo cup...especially sweet tea!

Rosie takes any chance you will giver her to jump into your dresser drawer, curl up in a Wal-Mart bag, lay in a box, or a laundry basket, or in the sink (waiting for you to give her a drink of course)!

Well, now that you have an idea of just how sweet and cute our Rosie is, let me tell you about the "other side" of her personality! I had to take Rosie to the vet about a year ago. She is indoor only and I admit I have not kept up on her annual visits to the vet. John got a box from Petsmart, the cardboard kind that is made for transporting small pets to the vet. I put Rosie inside and closed the box. She was PISSED!!! The vet is a good 20 minute drive from our house and Rosie hissed and screamed the entire way! I had her in the passenger seat and was having to drive and fight her the whole way. Rosie ripped the box open and all the way down one side and was trying to break free! Once inside the vet's office, Rosie was so upset they put us straight into a room, no waiting! They probably didn't want to upset the other well-behaved pets who were in the waiting area being good little cats and dogs! We made it into the exam room and Rosie proceeded to continue to tear the box to absolute oblivion! I have never seen anything like it! When I tried to get her out and console her, she bit me and drew blood. The vet came in, took one look at the situation, and quickly left to get backup. It took two vets trying to hold her down and after they had both been bitten, they went for the straight jacket. A straight jacket for cats?!?!? i never knew... here is a picture for those who have never had the pleasure of witnessing this trauma...

ok, so once wrestled  inside, Rosie was still so bad they had a hard time letting her head out without her biting them. Once they finished everything they needed to do, which included shaving her neck (she was in for a sore she had that wouldn't heal) they placed her into a pet taxi and let me take it home because there was no other way to get her out of the building. There was cat hair an inch deep on the floor from all the hair she lost during the event and we waded to the car. I had to take the taxi back the next day.

Well, poor Rosie has to go back to the vet :( She has an eye problem and we don't know what it is. Here is how she looks now

In anticipation of the horrible ride to the vet, we made an appointment at a different vet that is a few blocks away and I have purchased a pet taxi. HA! Rosie is no match for me! I got smart this time! John came home to assist and we got her into the taxi in record time! About 15 minutes. She was so worked up, she blew poo all over the inside of the carrier and all over herself. That's great... not at all embarrassing. Got to the vet and she hissed at anyone who tried to look at her or talk to her. The tech weighed her and that went relatively well (13.2 lbs) and then proceeded to explain the way they handle cats like Rosie. They don't do that inhumane straight jacket thing... no ma'am! At this place, they have a clear plastic gas chamber for cats like our Rosie. I'm thinking, Oh jeez, just get this whole thing over with so I can take her home where she turns back into Mr. Hyde! She let the vet do what she needed to do as long as she kept a respectful distance and we avoided the gas chamber! All-in-all, best vet experience I've ever had with Rosie... ever.

Oh! Turns out she is allergic to her food. And has an eye infection. 

Vegas Prayers

You often hear of travel guides telling you about things that you must do or see when you are in Vegas but we're taking a different track here. Never having been to Las Vegas, I was elated when my boss told me I had been chosen to go for a training seminar on Teen Court from Monday the 2^nd to Friday the 6^th. I wasn't sure what to expect, but since my Chief and Director were joining me, I figured it wouldn't be too crazy.  I was just excited to see all the lights, play a few dollars in a slot machine, eat at the wonderful buffets I hear about, and maybe take in a show! Well, it didn’t quite go as expected. Here is an account of my trip.

Monday:

We arrived at the airport with suitcases packed and ready for business and pleasure. With a smile on my face and joy in my heart, I kissed my husband goodbye. His only words of advice for me while in Vegas… “don’t get married while you’re there!” He’s so funny! And off I go with Chief J’me in toe! We meet up with Mr. Saffle and get our boarding passes and we are ready to get on our flight. Prayer: “Dear God, please keep my kids safe while I am gone and me safe while in the air. Amen.” Our flight reads “on time” for 9:25 am, so we take a seat and wait. There is an awful lot of fog on the ground and after a while we hear the announcement, “passengers on the flight to Dallas (we had a connecting flight from there), the plane was here, circled around for a while trying to land, but turned around and went back to Dallas. We are expecting a take-off of 11:25am.” Now, I am bummed that we have to sit for 2 more hours. A little later, the flight was cancelled! So, we stand in a long line with cranky people tugging luggage and get booked on the next available flight… leaving at 6:45pm! This means we will arrive in Vegas at about midnight, which is 2:00am Oklahoma time. Ok, so our plans to walk the strip will have to wait for another night…no biggie. Mr. Saffle drops me and J’me off at Penn Square Mall and we shop for 4 hours while he goes home to take a nap. We find some funny, inappropriate Christmas gifts for our friends at work and leave them in Mr. Saffle’s trunk at the airport. And then it’s back to the airport to start over! Prayer: “Dear God, thank you for keeping us safe from the fog. Please see us safely to Vegas tonight, Amen.” We board the plane, and fly to Dallas, and then to Vegas. I’m here!!! Finally in Vegas!!! Who-hoo!!!

While the Strip is only about five minutes from the airport, allot yourself 1 hour to get to your hotel by airport shuttle. We were all excited to see our hotel. The conference booked us in the Fremont in downtown Vegas (old Vegas). Pulling up to the doors, there were brilliant lights everywhere and it looked beautiful! I couldn’t wait to see my room! We check in and I see my room. Prayer: “Dear God!” The place is a dump. The bed is a rollaway on wheels and the room has a musty, dirty smell. Oh well, let’s make the best of it, right? I mean, from what I understand, I won’t be spending much time in this room anyway, right??? At, 3:00am, I finally crawl into bed, close my eyes, and pray: “Dear God, please don’t let there be bed bugs in my sheets”. Just as I am drifting off, I hear something. What is that? Sounds like water. I turned off the sink after washing my face, didn’t I? Yes… so I get up to investigate and find my bathroom under water! It’s pouring, not dripping, from the ceiling! I call the front desk and they send the engineer, who tells me I have to move to another room. I pack up my stuff and move down the hall. It’s now 4:00am and I am back in bed, and finally get some sleep. Prayer: “Dear God, please don’t let this be an indication of how this trip is going to go”. 

Tuesday:

7:00am wake-up and go to take a shower. The bathroom lights don’t work. Engineer returns, fixes lights and I call John to tell him about my eventful trip thus far. John warns me that a huge snow storm is moving into Oklahoma and we may be stuck in Vegas longer than expected! Prayer: Dear God, please… if we get stuck anywhere, let it NOT BE HERE! Let us get stuck at the airport in Dallas…please!!!” I shower and get ready for the training seminar. Everyone attending looks tired. They had been partying all night. I look tired because I had been traveling and playing musical hotel rooms all night. But that’s ok. This training should be awesome! The man leading it pioneered Teen Court, so he must be amazing to learn from! He introduces himself as “Scott Peterson, not-the-murderer”. He has brought along two guest speakers of high notoriety. Well, I won’t bore you with details about his training, but let’s just say that we learned nothing. He had a ton of handouts, with no curriculum, no plan, and no personality. Scott used to work for the government and went on Nightline ratting them out for misappropriation of Federal Grant money. I don’t think he will ever work for the government again. Scandal! That’s good to have in your bio when trying to get a room full of people to respect you and your program! Nice. He was hit by a car a while back (told us that story 3 times) and he scratches his face A LOT. I am thinking it must be the pain meds he takes making him itch, but really, I am praying it’s not bed bugs! His 1^st guest gets up and gives a lengthy speech about himself and how his son was the inventor of Viagra. I Googled it… I can’t find his son’s name attached to Viagra at all… but nevertheless, this is his claim to fame, so whatever! What about Teen Court? What does the little blue pill have to do with Teen Court? Prayer: “Dear God, just get me through til lunch so I can enjoy the amazing buffet”! The buffet sucked.

We all decide being stuck would be awful, so we call and change our flight to Wednesday afternoon. Quite honestly, at this point, I am over it and ready to get home anyway. I just hope I don’t drag bedbugs with me! So, we have one night to enjoy Vegas. Oh well! After this horrible training is over, I am ready to enjoy my time seeing the sights. Scott not-the-murderer Peterson spends the entire afternoon showing us website after website and scratching his face. Prayer: “Dear God, please.”

Training is finally over for the day and we go to the bar and have a couple of drinks before dinner. Dinner is another crappy buffet. Okay, no more buffets in Vegas for me… I want to walk away having ONE really amazing meal! We walk up and down Old Vegas and see a few interesting street performers and a really cool light show. Then we played in the casino for a while and went to bed by 10:00. That’s it. All-in-all a fun evening. 

Wednesday:

7:00am wake-up. I go into my bathroom to wash my face and take a shower. I throw back the shower curtain and find the tub filling with blackish brownish water that smells like poo. Prayer: “Dear God, are you kidding me? This is no longer funny. I can handle being in a room that is kinda dirty, but showering in shit is not okay with me!” The engineer comes back (does he live here? He is ALWAYS here!) and I go down the hall to shower in J’me’s room. We check out of the hell hole hotel and give our luggage to the bellman to hold onto. And now, we are off to more boring training with itchy Scott not-the-murderer Peterson. More websites. I would rather be in the shit shower than sitting in this room! No breaks… 4 solid hours of websites. I am done. No longer listening to him, J’me and I play the dot game and I win. Which is good since I didn’t win the night before playing slots! The second guest speaker gets up. He is a 2 star General and he talks at length about how he can’t spell, so his wife did most of his work for him in college, earning him a Bachelor’s and a Master’s. Nice. He shares with us that he loves patriotism and miniskirts… especially his wife in a miniskirt. Really? Teen Court… remember, that is why we are here??? That was it. I had had enough. We went to lunch and enjoyed the best meal we had in Vegas. A burger from a snack shop in the casino. We meet airport shuttle and get to the airport. Prayer: Dear God, please get me out of here!”

We board the plane. I am excited that I have a window seat and there is no one next to me. I get all three seats to myself! I can stretch out and sleep the 3 hour flight to Dallas! Yay! That dream was short-lived when a 400 pound fat man plopped down next to me taking up one and a half of the 2 empty seats next to me. He has body odor and tells me he had to move because the man next to him was gross. He was dipping and spitting into a bottle and the fat man couldn’t handle it. Prayer: “Dear God, if you make this man fall asleep, I will never sneak donuts in church again, I promise!” The fat man waits until we get in the air and proceeds to pull out a huge box of pizza, a container with a burger and fries, and 2 Bud Lights. He then gets his I-Pad set up on his belly and begins to eat, dropping crumbs and slurping beer. Shoot me now! Are you serious? When the flight attendant asks if I would like something to drink, I decide to drown my woes in a tiny bottle of wine… which I spilled all over myself…ugh! I get out my book and read. Just get me home.

We get to Dallas and the flight attendant tells us the connecting flight to OKC is at gate D28. We have 20 minutes to get there and it’s at the opposite side of the airport. Mr. Saffle and I are both hoping we have time for a potty break and we rush to the gate… only to find out the flight attendant was wrong and we have to go back to where we started. So, with full bladders, we race to the gate and barely make it in time. Prayer: “Dear God, don’t let me wet my pants in front of my bosses! Amen.” Again, I have a window seat with no one next to me. Until… a crazy woman plops down and leans over right into my face and talks to me. Here is our conversation:

Crazy lady: I am just moving from seat to seat and I will probably move again, so don’t take it personal.

Me: you have really bad breath.

CL: hahaha

Me: why don’t you just go back to the seat you are assigned to?

CL: someone was in my seat.

Me: tell them to move!

CL: no way! He looks like a grumpy old man!

Me: thinking to myself – look lady, you ain’t SEEN grumpy! I say to her, tell a flight attendant!

CL: I did… she told me to find another seat.

Prayer: “Dear God, keep me from punching her in the face, Amen.”

Well, she proceeds to spend the whole flight next to me, playing Monopoly on her I-Pad and yelling curse words at it every time she got a bad move. 

I finally land in OKC and John is waiting on me. He looks like an angel! I have never been so happy to be home! Prayer: Dear God, thank you for giving me John. He is a blessing!”

Finally home and in my pj’s, ready to climb into my bed… John yells to me, “oh no! The cat puked right in the middle of the bed!”

Prayer: “Dear God, I just want this nightmare to end. I think you have had enough fun for one week…”

Moral of the story: what happens in Vegas… wait! Nothing happened in Vegas! I didn’t love my hotel room, I didn’t enjoy the so-called training, I didn’t become a millionaire, and I didn’t get married! I don’t love miniskirts, Viagra, or anything itchy! I did have fun one night, but not the kind of fun that gave me any good stories to tell. Vegas sucked, the hotel sucked, the training sucked, the flights sucked, and the food sucked. I just want to stay home for the next few days and not go anywhere. So, moral of the story… Vegas can HAVE what stays there. And, don’t waste your time on things that are not important, because the only important thing in life is miniskirts, Viagra, and patriotism. AMEN! Oh, and don’t leave your inappropriate Christmas gifts in your bosses trunk, because then you have to spend the next few days saying, “Dear God, please don’t let him look in our shopping bags!”

Blueberry and Pie

Thought I would share a little Christmas story with you all tonight. About 6 years ago, Haden (7 years old I think) really wanted a hamster for Christmas. Well, boy did Santa come through! Santa went to a very reputable pet store (because elves can't "build" a rodent) and purchased a blueberry hamster. She looked pretty close to the ones pictured above. Santa had to hide the hamster in my closet for about a week before Christmas (yes, he delivered early because it's too cold to have a hamster on the sleigh all night). So, I took care of the little hamster all week and on Christmas Eve, I gently laid the cage under the lights of the tree. I was worried the cat might let her curiosity get the better of her, so I slept on the sofa, keeping guard. I woke in the middle of the night and looked over at the cage to see the wood chips moving around, like something was wiggling underneath. After a close inspection, I discovered 9 tiny pink babies! Mama had 9 babies Christmas Eve!!! Are you kidding me??? We now have TEN blueberry hamsters??? Thanks alot SANTA! Oh boy...

It gets worse. A day or so later, we count the babies... 1,2,3...7? And the next day, 1,2,3...4? I called the vet and said, "I know this is going to sound really dumb, but I think Mama hamster is eating her babies". The vet says they do that when they are stressed and they think they are protecting their young. So we left Mama alone and she finally swallowed 7 babies in all, leaving two for us to figure out what the heck to do with! 

Haden named her Blueberry by the way... fitting to her specific species I thought... and kinda cute!

A good friend (Rebecca Bailey) decided that one of the babies would be perfect for her kids, so we adopted that one to her. We kept the other and purchased a cage and everything necessary for caring for another hamster and gave it to Dallas. He named it Pie! 

Thus ends the tale of Blueberry and Pie!

Merry Christmas to all! (I'm so glad Santa didn't bring a puppy!)

Best Birthday EVER!

It's September, which is full of birthdays in our family. Chance's is the 10th, mine is the 27th, and Dallas' is the 30th. We also have Uncle Will (my little brother) on the 18th and my Grandpa K in there somewhere too! With all these birthdays come parties, and as John and I sat this evening trying to think of something interesting and different to do for Dallas and Chance (both turning 12), the memory of "the best birthday ever" popped in my head.

The year was 2009 and Dallas was turning 10. We had his party at the Parkhurst Pumpkin Patch, which if you have not visited, I highly recommend! Dallas invited 10 or so friends and we all met there. We got to enjoy everything the Pumpkin Patch had to offer. The first event was the corn maze... the boys started at the entrance and had a race to see who could make it through the fastest. They were breaking off corn stalks along the way to use as walking sticks, or swords...don't quite remember because I spent a majority of the maze time in the first aid station. 

Dallas sliced open his finger breaking off a corn stalk. It was bleeding and would not stop. Well, for those who don't know, Dallas doesn't do well when it comes to blood...especially his own blood...lol. So he finds me and he is as pale as a ghost and we start heading to first aid. Every time he looks at his finger, he starts to crumble to the ground and I am telling him the whole time, "quit looking at it! I can't carry you there!" hahaha...he finally made it and we were in there for quite a while. He threw up in the trash can while the lady was getting me the first aid kit. While we were in the first aid station, the rest of party continued on and didn't miss a beat! Dallas missed the petting zoo.
 

2011-The Year of the Spider... and other Creepy Crawlers!!!

This blog is not intended for children under the age of 9. Children under 9 should be accompanied by a parent when reading this blog. Also, this blog might cause you to throw your head back and yell, "ahhhh", nausea, vomiting, and possible heebie jeebies. It is not intended to cause stroke or heart attack, however, so if that occurs, I find it necessary to say... read at your own risk! I am not responsible for carpet cleaning or medical bills!

 I must preface this blog by telling those of you who don't know me very well or visit my house, that I have a touch of OCD when it comes to having a clean house (work friends... I keep house like I keep my office if that helps give you a better idea of how clean my house usually is).

That being said, this year has been the year of spiders for me. Along with the spiders, we have had other creepy crawly things pop up! I may get some things out of order, but I will do my best to recall these events as they happened.

As i recall, the event that kicked it off was me getting bitten by a spider (probably a Brown Recluse). I woke up one morning to find a red spot on my stomach. It kind of hurt to touch and I thought it was an ingrown hair (which was strange as I DO NOT have a hairy belly!). I showered and left for work as usual. As the day went on, the spot grew. I waited too long to go to the Doctor, and as the days grew, so did the spot.It grew, and grew, and grew! It turned a greyish color in the middle and developed a welp the size of a baseball around it. It hurt so bad sometimes, I couldn't really move. In fact, it hurt all the way to my back. i finally sucked it up and went to the Doc. he said it looked like it started as a fiddleback bite but had progressed into a nice little staph infection. Great. So he wrote me some "super anti-biotic" and off I went. the medicine made me sick to my stomach and i was pretty miserable for a few days but then it got much better. This was about three weeks ago, i think? 

While recovering from the fiddleback attack (in my sleep, mind you. I slept with that thing!!!), I was in the garage smoking one night. The kids were all gone, and John was in the house. I kept hearing something moving and, being a bit on the freaked out side from the spider i shared a bed with, I put my feet up on a chair across from me. As i got up to go into the house, i took a quick look around and there she was... a BLACK WIDOW! She was hanging upside down in this really messy looking web that resembled a cobweb. OH GOD< HELP ME!!! I couldn't move... i yelled for John, but no response. So I went inside and called my Mommy! hahaha... i told John about it and instructed him (very sternly) to go get it! Kill it!!! He mistakenly believes that spiders are good for the Earth and was going to "wait until tomorrow". ARE YOU NUTS??? What, so she can be gone by morning and we will never know where the heck she went??? He was useless to me, so i got off the phone and went out to fight the little woman! i scrambled to find Raid and found it! I sprayed her and she ran all over the wall from me and then behind a cabinet. She was no match for me though! I got behind that barrier of plastic protection and dowsed her to death! DONE! whew... she didn't get me!

The next day, John was sent to the store for whatever heavy duty spray he could find for us to spray the house with. He returned and we read the instructions... "kills spiders (and listed about a million different kinds), EXCEPT BROWN RECLUSE AND BLACK WIDOWS! Seriously??? I am done for! By now, I am pretty sure there is some sort of set up going on in the spider community and they are out to get me!

We have also had the occasional house spider here and there and I have graciously allowed John to throw them outside (saving the Earth one arachnid at a time, right?). When John's not around, the little get flattened by what ever shoe is in reach!

OK... this next thing is really gross! One night at about 3:00am, Dallas comes to my bedside and tells me he found something in his room. I was too far into a sleep stooper to process and sent the poor boy back to bed I guess (I do not recollect the conversation...was told in the morning when we were all up). Later, when I had a cup of coffee in me, Dallas tells me that he had gotten up to pee in the middle of the night and stepped on... A SLUG! OMG! Are you kidding me?? I looked in the bedroom and behind his bed and Haden's bed, all along the walls there are slimy little slug trails. Oh... how in the world? What kind of filthy people get slugs in the house? I was so grossed out by this that I had to have a second cup of coffee and think. The carpet was dry as a bone, so I don't know why the things are attracted to MY HOUSE! Back to the store we go to find slug bait. Well, you can't use the dang bait with a dog in the yard because they are attracted to it and will eat it and it can be fatal. Of course! ugh... so i plan to use the bait tonight so we can take Eddie out on a leash every time his tiny bladder gets full. Sheesh...


Moving on... about two weeks ago, John and I were visiting on the back porch while smoking, and in the corner of the porch next to the house, was a dead baby snake. Some bug had eaten it's head off... yuck. The kids wanted to pick it up and I wouldn't let them... I am really wondering at this point if there is some sort of plague involving crawling things! 


So, today... I have done yardwork all day. I am hot, sweaty, dirty and disgusting! But I keep pressing on because there is so much work to be done! I was cleaning the back porch and all of it's items. The grill has been scrubbed, the patio furniture, scrubbed, the dog even got scrubbed! So all of the patio furniture was in the yard to dry in the sun, blocking the small entrance we have to get to the grass. (there is a short brick wall, about 18 inches tall around the edge of the patio). This is important later. There were some folding chairs leaned up against the house that need to be taken to the garage. Next to the chairs is the doghouse (where John sleeps when he is naughty!) I moved the chairs two at a time and leaned them against the dog house. When I got the last one, about 50 Daddy Long Leg spiders scrambled up my legs and onto my arms, neck, and head!!! I freaked out, ran a couple circles frantically trying to brush them off and finally drowned myself with the hose. I really have the heebie jeebies now! I haven't seen a Daddy Long Leg since my childhood days out in Logan County! Why here??? OH! Because it's the year of the dang spider! So, I calmed down from that experience and that is actually when I gave Edward Von Schnitzel a much needed bath. I then sprayed off the porch. After finishing, i thought, well the only place I missed was behind the dog house... so of course I moved it... but first I moved the deck box (positioned close to the dog house) behind the deck box, was another dead snake! This one was just like the first, only bigger. Guess they double their size in about two weeks, just in case anyone was wondering! I disposed of the body and moved on (I am not afraid of snakes like most girls, so this didn't creep me out as much as the other stuff...lol). i then moved the dog house. Wish I hadn't... behind the dog house is where mama snake had made her home. So when I moved it, Mama and 3 or 4 juvenile (delinquent as far as I am concerned) snakes scattered all over the porch! Of course I had just put the shovel away all the way across the yard in the shed. Why did I do that??? So, i had to pick them up and throw them somewhere! My gut reaction was to toss them over the fence, so i did. Mama and one little one made it to the safety of the yard next door, which belongs to an elderly lady we have never seen. She doesn't get out of the house, so I don't think she will ever know she has snakes living in her yard! lol Two or three others are somewhere in my yard, and i am done! My dog is running around barking and chasing these snakes and I don't even care. At this point, I am ready to shower and move to Alaska! Eddie found one snake as I was typing this blog, and he killed it. Poor baby snake... 

Don't let this story scare you from coming on over to enjoy an evening with the Meadows! Thanks for reading!

I do what I love and I love what I do!

"One hundred years from now, it will not matter what my bank account was, how big my house was, or what kind of car I drove. But the world may be a little better, because I was important in the life of a child."–Forest E. Witcraft

Let's go back in time. The year is 2000 (11 years ago) and I am finishing up my Bachelor's degree. For my very last class, one of my assignments was to come up with my "personal statement". This quote by Forest E. Witcraft is what I started my personal statement with 11 years ago and it still holds true for me today.

Of course, as a mother, I know how important I am in my children's lives. But today, they are not the focus of my blog. My clients are who I am writing about today. Just have a lot on my mind and wanted to get it out, so here's my blog! hahaha

11 years ago, I had to do a Practicum (internship) for my college degree. I chose to work with juvenile delinquents in Edmond and was able to do this at Edmond Family Counseling. The kids I worked with had committed such heinous crimes (haha) as "curfew violation", "public intoxication", and "possession of tobacco". I attended group counseling sessions and even got to go to a ropes course with them. The kids I worked with came from nice homes, with two parents, and never wanted for anything. So, when I was looking for a career 4 years ago, I remembered how much i loved that internship and applied at the Oklahoma County Juvenile Bureau as a Probation Officer. After all, I had done this before and knew what I was getting into, right? WRONG!!!

Since I work with juveniles, their names and cases are confidential, but I will try to give you a glimpse of the real world... some of you already know, and some will be shocked. 

When I first took this job, 4 years ago, boy was I naive! I had never been exposed to this side of life before and didn't have a clue about anything these youth were involved in! The worst thing I ever did as a teen was drive south of Memorial road after being told it was past my boundaries! (Mom, no need to correct me here...lol) Over the past 4 years, I have learned a lot! I have 31 kids on my caseload. These are kids on probation with Oklahoma County. Of those 31, 6 are sex offenders, 2 are prostitutes, 11 have felonies ranging from Burglary to Arson to Assault and Battery to drugs, 10 are heavily involved in gangs, and 2 are in the County jail (one for Murder 1 and one for Trafficking drugs). Almost all of them use drugs, and I am not talking just marijuana here... cocaine, PCP, heroine, meth, extacy, pills, etc. Many have mental health diagnoses, few attend school, and all are deprived to some degree. These are kids committing adult crimes.  It is my job to do what their parents have failed to do... supervise them and teach them to make good choices, hopefully turning them into positive members of the community. My goal is supposed to be to REhabilitate them, but what I have learned in most cases is that I am HABILITATING them because they never knew how to make good choices to begin with. Let me tell ya, it's not easy. I have had to do everything from enroll a kid in school to setting them up with a counselor and getting them the meds they need and never had, to substance abuse rehab, to gang intervention, to sex offender treatment services, and more. In most cases I am also having to try to teach the parents how to parent! My resources are limited and my job is challenging. Most days, I cannot wait to get home to my wonderful children and hug them and be thankful that they lead a normal life and that they will never know what it means to be in a gang or what life on the streets is like! 

I write today because I need to get some things out of my head that are preoccupying my thoughts. I pour my heart into helping these kids and it seems that lately , my job is more and more focused on keeping them alive. I am sure many of you have seen stories on the news lately of dead bodies found in cars, police shootings, drive-by shootings, and let's not forget the pharmacy trial. Crime is really on the rise and these kids are in the thick middle of it! I have a few clients who are in detention right now just for the sake of keeping them safe from the life they have chosen which has led to possible death. But I can't keep them locked up forever... I am not alone in this battle though. Thank goodness for all of the counselors and mentors who pour their hearts into the lives of these kids as well! Without them, many of these kids don't stand a chance out there! I work closely with a couple of mentors who spend their days and nights with these kids just to try to keep them off the streets. They are wonderful, giving, selfless people and I thank them for what they do (you know who you are).

A few of the battles I am currently fighting are:

A girl who started prostituting to help support her alcoholic mother finacially. Turns out, she got herself mixed up in a Human Sex Trafficking ring and her pimp is currently in jail but we don't know for how long so she is scared to death because she wants out of that mess but he threatens her and she feels trapped.


A boy who is trying to get out of the gang he is deeply involved in. It is harder than one might think to get out. His mother's house was shot up when he wouldn't go with them and his little sister was in bed. The bullet holes were inches from her head but luckily no one was hurt.


A boy fighting for his life in the hospital after being shot.


A girl who doesn't want to be released from detention because her drug dealer boyfriend was killed last week and word on the street is that she is next.


Now, I understand that these kids have "made their beds" but I still can't help but try to fight for them and help them achieve the best possible outcome for their lives. Sometimes, "the best" isn't what you would consider good, but every little baby step toward a better life is a mark of success to me.


Please understand that this blog is not an attempt to toot my own horn or get any kudos. The point is simply to spread awareness as to what is going on in our world and to ask that you please pray for me as I continue to try to help these kiddos. Some are good kids who will make it out of this and be normal adults and some will end up in the adult system no matter how hard I try. Some are lost and some are not. I know I can't save them all, but if I can save just one, then my job was worth it. I work with other Officers who put just as much into their job as I do and I commend them for the work they do. As i said, I am not alone. We are on the frontline fighting a war in society. We stand for justice and peace for the community and we serve and protect. But at the end of the day, we are moms and dads and daughters and sons, friends, and citizens. Thanks for reading and thanks for your support.

The Annual Meadows Burnin' Down the House Cookout saga cont...

We have had this cookout every Spring for three years now. We invite a few wonderful friends that I work with (and my mom) and everyone brings their own meat while we supply some sides. Every year, we end up with a story to tell!

2009:
we spent several days cleaning up the yard for our first cookout with friends. John and I worked so hard that we hoped to have energy left for big event, so I guess I got a little lazy toward the end of cleaning. Back then, we had this dog named Chip and he liked to chew on the line to the propane tank on the grill, so my Dad had put this short fence around the grill made of chain link to prevent the dog from putting holes in the line. Well, I cleaned the whole porch EXCEPT the area inside this fence. Jump ahead. Everyone is here enjoying themselves and John is Grill Master. He is flipping and turning everyone's steaks and burgers to absolute perfection. He carefully placed each perfected patty and succulent steak onto a plate to deliver inside for plating. as he picked up the plate, he lost his grip and everyone's dinner fell to whatever Mother Nature was keeping inside the fence around the grill!!! After we all gasped all of the air out from the surroundings, all I could do was laugh. John was mortified! But our friends were so great! "Take it inside, rinse it off and throw it back on the grill... we'll be fine!" So we did, and all was good!

2010:
We try again. This time, we even cleaned under the grill! We placed the grill near the house by the chimney this year and fired it up! Again, John is Grill Master and most everyone brought burgers. We sat around visiting about the year before and laughing. When John finished, we all went inside and prepared our burgers just the way we liked them and took a seat around the den to eat. Well, we had run out of chairs, so I went outside to fetch a folding chair. That's when I saw the grill completely engulfed in flames!!! I am yelling "FIRE, FIRE!" and no one is moving... hahaha. Finally, everyone comes out to see why I am freaking out and we all stand in awe at the flaming grill. It is blackening the brick chimney and the flames is traveling down the propane line. Thank goodness someone showed up with the fire extinguisher from the kitchen and John Prince saved the day! I just knew that tank was going to explode and we were gonners! Whew!

2011:
Third time is a charm, right? We invite everyone, we clean, we move the grill way out away from house...lol. John, the Grill Master is calmly cooking away while we all visit and have a great time. The burgers come off, and then the steaks. Except Jim and Cindy's... their steaks were still "mooing" and Jim decided they needed a little longer on the grill. Then it happens... the propane runs out! That would be the one thing we forgot! Fill the propane tank after last year! So the rest of us enjoyed our dinner while poor Jim went inside and started a skillet on the stove to finish his steaks. Hahaha... we can't win! We will try again next year though and our friends will too, because they are gluttons for punishment I guess! Happy grilling everyone!