On March 25th, 2011, I was pulled over for speeding and I never been treated so badly by another human being before in my life, let alone by a police officer. The minute he got to my door, Officer Lefebvre started yelling at me. He screamed at me for driving too fast and for being a negligent driver, when I had my cruise control set at 63MPH. He didn’t even initially ask for any of my driving information and he couldn’t specifically tell me how fast I was supposedly “negligently driving.” As soon as he started telling me and my kids that I was going to kill them, I started to cry and I asked him to stop yelling at me. I asked him if I could step outside the car so we could discuss it, so my four-year-old son, Kole, and two-year-old daughter, Leah wouldn’t have to hear it. He, of course, didn’t stop harassing me and he even went so far as to tell me that he was going to arrest me and take me to jail and that he could have my kids taken into foster care.
Leah and Kole were crying after he finally left with my information, but because I was so stressed out while he was screaming at me, I failed to give him my proof of insurance. When he came back to the truck, he told me that I was driving down the road with a 5000 pound weapon and I was going to kill someone. He then looked at my kids and said, "Your mom is going to kill you." I asked him why he was being so mean and he said if he was trying to be mean, he would haul me off to jail. Now, Kole keeps asking me if I am going to jail and that he does not want me to leave the family.
I thought law enforcement were supposed to serve and protect and I would really like to know who he was protecting while he is screaming at me in front of children! I have never lost my faith in the law until I met this guy. Both of my kids are now so terrified because they think they are going to get taken away by the police since he told me, very loudly in front of them, that he could have them taken away. I have never been treated like this in all of my 27 years of life and have always respected police officers, but, Officer Lefebvre gives police everywhere a bad name and reputation; a reputation that more and more people are starting to believe.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Turkey Massacre
Last April, my husband was buying baby chicks at a feed store (because he thinks he’s a farmer) and he noticed some baby turkeys for sale. So, he decided to bring two turkeys home and when questioned about what we were supposed to do with these turkeys, he said we were going to have them for Thanksgiving. If you knew my husband at all, you would know that he really just wanted to keep them as pets. Growing up on a farm has taught me that all animals have a purpose and if you want a pet, you should get a dog!
I had invited our entire family over for Thanksgiving, with the promise of an extremely fresh turkey. Kurt (my husband) and my brother-in-law Blake decided that they don’t exactly know how to murder a turkey and better figure it out. They proceeded to watch a video on You-Tube about how to butcher a turkey. I was shocked (as you all would be) at how many do-it-yourself turkey butchering videos there are! The video proclaims that it only takes about ten minutes, from start to finish. It just so happened that there was a blizzard in the works as poor Kurt is outside assassinating his turkey, which he has named Ed.
After Kurt is mostly done plucking the carcass, he brings it into the house and wants me to gut it. There is simply no way I am about to do what I had thought was the worst part of the entire procedure because this was all his idea! After about three hours, Kurt had done a very good job of gutting it and, amidst awful gagging noises, even cut out the “poopsack,” as they so elegantly put it on You-Tube. There were still tons of black feathers all over the bird though and the legs are so sprawled out and gross that it won’t even fit in my roaster! Because it was so late in the evening, we put the giant 23 pound turkey in a garbage bag, and set it in the fridge to cool. It’s at this point that my husband turns to me and says, “I hate killing things! I don’t ever want to do this again!” I merely laughed because this was all his idea in the first place!
It’s the day before Thanksgiving and this turkey looks horrible. It has so many feathers and quills in it that you would have a mouthful of feathers if you even tried to eat it. Of course I get the job of picking out every last feather and quill and I must say that it was the grossest thing I have ever had to do. The quills popped out of the turkey skin like blackheads on your face, but the absolute worst part is all the little fine feathers all over the skin. Cold, dead turkey skin freaks me out. After two hours of plucking minuscule feathers from the skin, I call it quits and decide that we’ll just have to carve the turkey super fast once it’s out of the oven because there’s no way anyone would eat it if they actually saw it. Good thing I’m a vegetarian! The entire “plucking” escapade could’ve been prevented if Kurt had plucked the bird while it was still warm, but I guess that’s just too much to ask when it’s snowing outside. He should be given some credit though because it was his first time and You-Tube was his teacher.
Thanksgiving day comes and after the turkey is fully cooked, it looks like it is full of little blackheads everywhere there is skin. It’s decided by Kurt and I that this is the stupidest idea he’s ever had. Before we serve the turkey, which I am sure is going to make our whole family sick, we rip off the skin so no one can see what it really looked like. To our surprise though, our whole family loved it! My 83 year old grandfather said it was the best turkey he has ever eaten. I even had a little taste to see what all the fuss was about. I am proud to say that not one person got sick and that a new family Thanksgiving tradition had been born. Because the turkey was so tasty, my husband agreed that it’s worth it to raise and butcher our own turkey each Thanksgiving, but hopefully, as time goes on, he’ll get better at the whole not naming his turkey before he kills it thing.
I had invited our entire family over for Thanksgiving, with the promise of an extremely fresh turkey. Kurt (my husband) and my brother-in-law Blake decided that they don’t exactly know how to murder a turkey and better figure it out. They proceeded to watch a video on You-Tube about how to butcher a turkey. I was shocked (as you all would be) at how many do-it-yourself turkey butchering videos there are! The video proclaims that it only takes about ten minutes, from start to finish. It just so happened that there was a blizzard in the works as poor Kurt is outside assassinating his turkey, which he has named Ed.
After Kurt is mostly done plucking the carcass, he brings it into the house and wants me to gut it. There is simply no way I am about to do what I had thought was the worst part of the entire procedure because this was all his idea! After about three hours, Kurt had done a very good job of gutting it and, amidst awful gagging noises, even cut out the “poopsack,” as they so elegantly put it on You-Tube. There were still tons of black feathers all over the bird though and the legs are so sprawled out and gross that it won’t even fit in my roaster! Because it was so late in the evening, we put the giant 23 pound turkey in a garbage bag, and set it in the fridge to cool. It’s at this point that my husband turns to me and says, “I hate killing things! I don’t ever want to do this again!” I merely laughed because this was all his idea in the first place!
It’s the day before Thanksgiving and this turkey looks horrible. It has so many feathers and quills in it that you would have a mouthful of feathers if you even tried to eat it. Of course I get the job of picking out every last feather and quill and I must say that it was the grossest thing I have ever had to do. The quills popped out of the turkey skin like blackheads on your face, but the absolute worst part is all the little fine feathers all over the skin. Cold, dead turkey skin freaks me out. After two hours of plucking minuscule feathers from the skin, I call it quits and decide that we’ll just have to carve the turkey super fast once it’s out of the oven because there’s no way anyone would eat it if they actually saw it. Good thing I’m a vegetarian! The entire “plucking” escapade could’ve been prevented if Kurt had plucked the bird while it was still warm, but I guess that’s just too much to ask when it’s snowing outside. He should be given some credit though because it was his first time and You-Tube was his teacher.
Thanksgiving day comes and after the turkey is fully cooked, it looks like it is full of little blackheads everywhere there is skin. It’s decided by Kurt and I that this is the stupidest idea he’s ever had. Before we serve the turkey, which I am sure is going to make our whole family sick, we rip off the skin so no one can see what it really looked like. To our surprise though, our whole family loved it! My 83 year old grandfather said it was the best turkey he has ever eaten. I even had a little taste to see what all the fuss was about. I am proud to say that not one person got sick and that a new family Thanksgiving tradition had been born. Because the turkey was so tasty, my husband agreed that it’s worth it to raise and butcher our own turkey each Thanksgiving, but hopefully, as time goes on, he’ll get better at the whole not naming his turkey before he kills it thing.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Zumba
Zumba is sweeping across the nation like wildfire and is like a community. Zumba is an amazing dance/workout class and it’s oh so much fun. I always thought it would be scary to try because everyone would be so much better than me, but it’s nothing like that at all. People don’t want to look silly in front of other people and that’s the main reason most people would not join the class. But, I am happy to say that I tried it and loved it. In my Zumba class, there are so many different kinds of people and we all come together for two common goals; we all want to lose weight and want to have fun while doing it, which is what holds the group together. Walking on the stair master for an hour seems like endless torture and Zumba makes cardio fun and exciting. There’s all kinds of people there, young and old. There is this one lady in my class who has to be at least 80 years old and she can shake her hips ten times better than I can! There are extremely fit women and not-so-fit women (like myself). And there are men in the class too! Granted, the number of men in the class compared to women is miniscule, but there are a few who aren’t intimidated by a class full of women, so kudos to them!
This class is so much fun and the reason it has become a community is because everyone supports everyone. The main goal is to have fun, plain and simple. The music is so upbeat that my sister smiles the entire hour when she’s jumping around and sweating like a pig. Zumba really works for weight loss. My sister has lost 10 lbs. and there is a woman who has reached her goal weight loss of 100 pounds in just 8 months. We all help each other learn the moves and we all encourage one another.
No one teases you for not getting the moves down right away and everyone only has positive encouragement for others. The first day I tried it, I was having a really hard time with the coordination (I think my motor skills are lacking) and this sweet older lady who can get down said, “Don’t worry about that song because it’s a really hard one.” Her words really made me smile. The instructor always says that you get out of it what you are willing to put into it and it’s completely true. But, when you’re having fun, you want to keep having fun, right? I am happy to say that I have lost 34 pounds all together and I am so glad I am part of the Zumba class community.
This class is so much fun and the reason it has become a community is because everyone supports everyone. The main goal is to have fun, plain and simple. The music is so upbeat that my sister smiles the entire hour when she’s jumping around and sweating like a pig. Zumba really works for weight loss. My sister has lost 10 lbs. and there is a woman who has reached her goal weight loss of 100 pounds in just 8 months. We all help each other learn the moves and we all encourage one another.
No one teases you for not getting the moves down right away and everyone only has positive encouragement for others. The first day I tried it, I was having a really hard time with the coordination (I think my motor skills are lacking) and this sweet older lady who can get down said, “Don’t worry about that song because it’s a really hard one.” Her words really made me smile. The instructor always says that you get out of it what you are willing to put into it and it’s completely true. But, when you’re having fun, you want to keep having fun, right? I am happy to say that I have lost 34 pounds all together and I am so glad I am part of the Zumba class community.
Monday, January 10, 2011
Hoarder
What isn’t in my purse? OK…so I get my purse out to start this paper/blog thing and I am completely floored at the amount of crap I have in my purse. Can we say embarrassing? Assuming that anyone would even try to figure out who’s mess this belongs too, their first thought would be, This women has got to be a hoarder and one of the most disorganized people in the ENTIRE world!
Opening my purse, someone might think, Wow…why does this purse have small gathered hole to get into it? Just for the record, I have hated this purse forever and think it might be time for a new one. Many, many conclusions would be drawn from this purse. Many things point to motherhood such as a purple hot wheels car, an orange sprocket looking thing, a purple plastic diamond ring and a binky. Did I just say binky? My kids are 2 ½ and 4 ½ and they have been off the binky since they were six months old. Go figure. (She must have boys and girls.)
Neosporin, Band-Aids (yup, she's a mom.) What a minute...are those starry strips? There's hand sanitizer and the normal make up you would see in a woman's purse or make up bag but mine is strung all about my purse. Make-up brushes, black eyeliner, pink lipstick, practically paper white powder (well, we know that this lady has never seen a day of sun in her life), black eye shadow (is she gothic?), chicken poop chap-stick that my mother thought was a hilarious Christmas gift, a little Conair pink facial hair trimmer (Tee hee, she has whiskers.)
Headphones, but no I-pod (she might like music), passport, (she travels…what only to Mexico? Wow. That is worst passport picture in the whole wide world), gum, a camera with 483 pictures on it since November (this girl might have a problem and I see that she does have a boy and a girl), and a day-planner with nothing written it. There are keys, three loose keys and two sets of the same keys, which I have actually been searching a month for (yup, she is a mom. The #1 mom star key-chain and key chain with a picture of her son playing soccer confirms it), tacks, paper clips, shot records for her kids, and 15 different pictures of her son and daughter (seems like she takes really good care of her kids.)
Cards strewn about my purse include: Flying J rewards card, Blockbuster, the Disney movie club, Toys-R-Us, Staples, Entertainment, Build-A-Bear, Best Buy, Craftsman Club card (this lady really like reward clubs), a license to foster parent, seven different credit cards (who in the world needs that many credit cards? And not one expired...why are these just thrown in her purse? This lady really needs to put them in a wallet.) Which brings me to my wallet (is it alive?), that is so stuffed full of coupons and receipts that it's actually ripping at the seams. There is also a vehicle registration certification for a 2001 silver Chevy Impala (totally a mom car).
The cards that I actually have in my wallet are: a business card for the Evergreen Sinus Center, a Family Fun Membership card to the Children’s Museum (this lady is really into her family), an USAA membership card for a Kurt Dickson (her husband must be in the military, or was), a church bulletin for last Sunday, two different types of health insurance cards, a student ID number to Everett Community College, and finally, a driver's license (how could she find that under all that crap?)
Someone's final conclusion about me based on my purse and wallet would probably be something like: this is an extremely disorganized pale lady who loves her family, her pictures and will likely be a future candidate for that Hoarders show. I think it's time to clean out my purse....
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hello Everyone!
So, I have NEVER ever used a blog thing before and I hope I am doing it right. Please someone let me know if I did it right. :-)
Liz
Liz
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