10 years ago today

It was 10 years ago today that I did my first 8 hour shift as a dispatcher. I, before that day, had been a full time hair designer. I wasn't looking for a change. I really liked doing hair. However, I had more bills than money and set out looking for a part time job. What I found was a full time job dispatching. I'd always been very intrigued by law enforcement. A guy I dated in high school had a scanner at his house. I loved listening to that thing. Normally I had no idea what they were saying on there, but I was more than captivated by it.

One night I was laying in my bed wondering how I was going to make a credit card payment. It was about 11 o'clock PM and I couldn't sleep. I sprang out of bed, went to the local convenience store, and bought a paper. The ad spoke to me. Dispatcher, $7.90/hr. I thought dispatching would be so much fun, and almost $8 an hour? Wow! I got my resume ready and sent it as fast as I could. It didn't take long for me to hear back from them to set up an interview. Holy cat smokes was I nervous. I went to the Sheriff's Office in Flandreau, a place I'd never been. I waited in anticipation with my heart in my throat. Finally they called me in. BZZZZZZZZZZZZ. They opened a security door. A security door - how exciting!

I was interviewed by the Sheriff and the Chief Deputy. Neither of those titles meant anything to me at the time. The interview was an hour long. AN HOUR LONG I said. The Sheriff would ask me "What would you do if this happened?" I didn't have a clue. I didn't know the first thing about dispatching. I'd have to learn the tricks of the trade, but if they'd only give me the chance, I could show them that I'd be really good at this job. Finally after about the third or forth time the Sheriff asked me a 'What would you do' question, the Chief Deputy started bickering with the Sheriff saying "She doesn't know. She's never been a dispatcher. Stop asking her those kinds of questions." I sat there in awe, not sure what to do. The Sheriff asked me "How long do you think it will take you to learn how to dispatch?" I thought the Chief Deputy was going to come out of his chair. He scolded the Sheriff again. By this time it was comical. An hour later, that's right - an hour, my interview was complete. I felt pretty confident that I was a front runner for the job. I don't know why exactly, just a hunch.

I left the building and had to walk in front of a room full of 'cops'. 'Where did they all come from' I wondered and 'why weren't they out working'? They all stared at me as I walked by. It wasn't a fond memory. Anyway, during the interview I found out that the dispatching job I'd so eagerly wanted was full time. Uh, I already had a full time job. I certainly couldn't have two. Something would have to give. I decided if I got the dispatching job then I'd drop down to doing hair part time.

I obviously got the job and cut my hair hours down to part time. That only lasted 7 more months. I worked the midnight to 8 shift dispatching and then would work from noon until 6 or 7, sometimes 8pm doing hair. HO-LY CAT SMOKES! I kept a journal at that time. At the beginning of each entry it said "I'm so tired today". I was, I was beat.

From then on I did hair part time here and there. The last time I worked in a salon was when I was pregnant with Nathan. I went on maternity leave and never went back. I dispatched in Flandreau for 2 1/2 years and have worked here for 7 1/2 years. I love my job. It's quite rewarding. There are days that I'd like to not have to answer the woman who calls 911 to ask for a weather report, but I guess with everything you take the good with the bad.

Ten years ago today I started a new life. I'll never regret it and never forget it.
(There might be some of you who are tempted to comment, you know who you are, but please choose your words carefully.)

Dear Kerrie

We need to talk. I realize that after almost 33 years of having dairy that it must be hard to quit cold turkey, but really, come on. I know it was hard for you to realize the past few years that dairy was your direct stomach problem, but I did what I could to tell you.

Ok, lets cut to the chase. Lets talk about Tuesday. I realize when you got home from tee ball practice that you were tempted by the ad from Pizza Hut in your mailbox. I get that. However, no matter how many times you try it, dairy and I just don't like each other anymore. I can't tell you why. Frankly, it's none of your business. The bottom line is that you just can't do it.

Yes, I understand that the picture of the P'Zone looked delicious. They have to make it that way so people will buy it. It's for those who CAN have dairy - not those who can not (ie: you). I'm not trying to hurt your feelings here, but what were you thinking? You knew better, didn't you? Just admit it, Kerrie, you knew better.

I thought it was polite on my part to let you enjoy it for the first 5 minutes. You know as well as I do that anything longer would give you false hope that you can have diary. You can't Kerrie - you just can't. I don't mind if you have butter here and there, but cheese, chocolate and milk are totally out of the question.

Now, please don't make me have this discussion with you again. You're almost 33 for crying out loud. You're an adult. Take the responsibility and run with it. I'm sorry I have to be so harsh with my words, but for some reason you're just not getting it. I only hope in the future we can be better friends.

Sincerely,
Your Stomach

Weekend pictures

Here are pictures from my visit in Milbank.

My cousins (they are sisters) from L-R: Katie, Holly (Alec) and Erin. Aren't they pretty?

Alec!

Smile Izzie!

This is my cousin Erin. Isn't she beautiful? I agree.

Justin took the kids to the nursery. They had a good time in there....well, at least the kids had fun in there.

Here is my sisters family with Alec.

Here are my Grandparents, my mom, and my step dad with Alec.Our family with Alec.Two adorable kids I found along the way.Me, Claire, and my sister Shannon. (What's not to love about my HUGE fat arms that now have a farmer tan?)Here's me and Holly. I cropped it so you wouldn't see my fat arms. I know - it's too late.Here's the kids table.

This is my Aunt Jenni and Uncle Neil.

Here I am with my Grandparents.

Here's the whole family. TOP: Papa, Justin, Jim (brother-in-law), Roger (step-father). MIDDLE on couch: Claire and Izzie. On couch: BJ, Me, Shannon (sister), my mom. FRONT ROW: Jack, Nathan, Evie

The end result.

Video blog

Click to play | Make your own Smilebox

Vide blog - Claire Meyer style

Fun in the sun

Yesterday I had a fun day with the kids. Natey got a slip-n-slide for his birthday and we finally broke it out. He thought it was tons of fun, Claire on the other hand - not so much. She was willing to stand by the slip-n-slide, but she wasn't quite willing to play on it. Natey didn't care. He was ALL about his new toy.

I think I need to clean the lens of my camera. It's so hard to see what the pictures look like when I take them outside, but some pictures are better than none, right?

Here are Nathan and Claire testing out the water. Nathan was a fan, Claire was not.

Don't kid yourself into thinking that Peach is actually on the slip-n-slide. She's standing just beyond it.

Jack just sat outside and watched the kids. He looks to be enjoying himself.

Natey had a blast!

Claire found other ways to entertain herself.

Still having a good time, Jack? Good!

Try this

Click here to get to my video blog. I'm not positive it's going to work though.

While we wait

What the heck is taking so long? I finished my video almost 26 hours ago and putfile is still converting it. It was 8 minutes long and, I'm guessing, just over the limit for youtube. COME ON! There are things that I have a lot of patience with/for, but this isn't one of them.

Yesterday I got up just after noon and decided to run to SF. I was going to go today, but if I went yesterday then I could go alone which means I could go faster. I went to 7 stores in about 2 1/2 hours. I was faster than fast, quicker than quick, I was LIGHTENING. That's from the Cars movie in case you were interested.

Here is a picture of my new little nephew Zach. He's just a little guy compared to his brother who was almost 10 pounds when he was born. I talked to my sister-in-law yesterday. She said that he's doing well. He's on a bili blanket which is pretty normal for a breastfed baby. He, of coarse, is trying to figure out what's going on in his new world and isn't real sure when to be awake and when to be asleep. I can't wait to see him, although I have no idea when that will be. Now we have Jack and Zach. We already had Gary (Justin's dad) and Kerrie. Welcome to our family sweet baby boy!

Yesterday Claire found some Cars tattoo's. The kids decided to put them on their feet so that they would have a tattoo like mine.

I think my kids are some of the funniest around!

And how cute is this?

I was lucky enough to have this sweet little guy come for a visit this weekend. He is SOOO cute! This is Miah's son, Colter.

Peach likes to swing in Jack's swing. She knows she's not supposed to be in there, but why let that stop you, right?

And Sunday, race day, wouldn't be complete without Nathan getting into his Jeff Gordon uniform.

Video blog

The video blog is complete. The file was too big for youtube (whatever!), so I'm waiting for putfile to convert it. I'll post it when it's ready. I hope it's before next Monday. (sigh)

Father's Day

I think Father's Day gets a bad wrap. Nobody seems to make a very big deal about it. It is a big deal. It's interesting to me to see how much the fathers role has changed in the family over the years. In the day of my Grandfather, you'd never hear of a stay at home dad. Although I don't think I'd go as far as to say that it's common today, but it's much more common today as compared to some 20 years ago.

The father role has evolved over the years. When I was dating, I knew exactly what I didn't want in a husband. I wasn't looking at men thinking of what kind of fathers they might be because I wasn't sure if I wanted to have kids. Then came Justin. The more serious our relationship was the more I knew I wanted to have kids with him. I knew he'd be a good dad and he is.

I know there are many women who wouldn't dream of leaving their newborn home with their new daddy because that new dad 1) isn't willing or 2) is scared to death. When I went back to work after Nathan was born, I agreed to work weekends. That was 5 years ago. Justin has always kept the kids on the weekends - all by himself. He's a very hands on dad - which I love. I don't have to worry about getting a phone call from Justin in a panic because he doesn't know what to do with one of the kids. It's a wonderful feeling knowing that my kids have a great dad.

Happy Father's Day. I love you.

Tee Ball

Natey had another game yesterday. I'm telling you - these games crack me up. Justin is the assistant coach, so the third time the kids were in the outfield, Justin was telling each child which position to go to. The kids eagerly formed a line waiting to hear what position they were supposed be. I should have taken video of it. Picture this: Justin has his back to the outfield as the kids are lined up. "(Name) you take first. (Name) you take second. (Name) you play center" - and so on. Little did he know, had he turned around he would have seen the entire team standing just beyond him looking around for first, second, center and so on. It was fun-ny! Here are some pictures of the game. T-ball is fun, but being on the same team as your best friend is Great!

Natey's up to bat

Waiting on base

Check out his form

Nathan's chasing a ball. He was at the pitchers mound. He later told me how important that position was - and fun.

Giving 5's at the end of the game is a BIG deal!

Hey there Jack! Did you enjoy your car ride?

You look pretty happy. Who's that behind the wheel?

If you're going to drive with the baby, you need to have both hands on the wheel.

Thanks!

Claire!.......Never mind ;)

The hit

hit

–verb (used with object)

• to deal a blow or stroke to: Hit the nail with the hammer.


• to request or demand of: He hit me for a loan.

–verb (used without object)

• to strike with a missile, a weapon, or the like; deal a blow or blows: The armies hit at dawn.


• to come into collision (often fol. by against, on, or upon): The door hit against the wall.


• Slang. to kill; murder. AH - here we go!

(If I turn up missing after this post, RUN - don't walk - to the local authorities....wait - not local. Those of you reading this from afar - call someone. Quit walking.....RUN!!!)

Last week the hideous project called 'Project Drain Tile' started at our house. We were very excited about getting it done. They started by cutting the cement with some saw thing that puts off exhaust, ie: carbon monoxide. It was warm out, but Justin said we had to leave the windows open for ventilation. Fine by me. It was warm in the house, but being able to breath clean air out weighs CO poisoning any day.

Fast forward to Monday. As you know, I work from midnight to 8am on Mondays. When I got home, Justin suggested that I go up to Claire's room to sleep. They planned to use the jack-hammer and the saw that day in the basement. Finally at 9:30 I made my way up to get some shuteye.

I don't know what time it was, but I woke up once to the jack-hammer and, thankfully, went right back to sleep. I woke up another time and thought 'wow - the fumes are really strong up here'. I turned over and went back to sleep again. Finally it was time to get up and get ready to go pick up the kids. The first thing I thought was 'where on earth did this pounding headache come from?' and 'holy crap is that exhaust smell strong!'.

I walked out of Claire's bedroom and towards the stairs. I quickly understood why my head was pounding. There was a plume of smoke hovering over the whole house. It was exhaust. I looked around and every single window in the house was shut. As if that weren't bad enough, the baby gate was up on the stairs. It was an obvious hit on my life.

I immediately threw open the windows and called Justin. "Nice Try" I told him. He acted as if he had no idea what I was talking about. Need I remind you that he's the Detective for our Police Department? Who else would be able to get away with murder, I ask you? I quickly asked to speak to his supervisor in which I was denied. I explained to him that his plan was foiled and he just laughed at me. LAUGHED AT ME! Don't forget that the windows were wide open when he was home and the guys were using the saw, but when I was home alone - shut tight. A HIT PEOPLE! Are any of you DCI guys reading this? Help!!

Anyway, I've been sleeping with one eye open for obvious good reason. If I don't post tomorrow, by all means PANIC and call the police - just not ours (one was down stairs and is an accomplice to this heinous crime). :)

Day from hell!

Yesterday was a horrible day. It started off good, but quickly went downhill. We got up early and ran to Brookings to pick up a few things. I showed you a picture of the sewer pipe which was in obvious need of repair. The plumber thought they would be able to repair it in the basement which was really good news.

We got home from Brookings around 11 and realized that we didn't have any water. Crap! Do you realize how much you use your sewer system, your drain? I mean, the obvious fact that you can't take a shower or flush the toilet is one thing, but after giving Jack a bottle, the obvious thing to do is rinse out the bottle, right? Not if you are replacing your sewer pipe you can't.

I noticed Justin was outside talking to the plumber in the front yard. They both looked serious. Justin came in the house and looked like someone had just punched him in the stomach. Awesome! (sigh) He told me that they were going to have to dig in front of the house. WHAT? Are they sure? Maybe I should talk to them. There was no use. It had to be done.

Natey was beside himself with joy knowing that in a few short minutes a backhoe would adorn our front yard. Again, awesome! (sigh) Oh - right! I forgot to tell you what was already there.

That's right, a cement truck. Now, what's not to love about a cement truck, right? He couldn't have been happier. Wait - yes he could. One backhoe please!

Great! Could you please dig a huge hole in our front yard? YOU COULD? Oh happy day!!!

Hello Mr. Plumber. How much do you get paid an hour? I hope it's a good amount, however, I also hope it's out of someone else's pocket. How are you not getting wet? It's really raining out there.

Great! You guys think of everything.

As if this weren't fun enough, the guys doing the drain tile in the basement accidentally got the phone line wet so the phone guy got to come over and see the inside of our house. It was a WRECK. I was embarrassed to let him in, but we didn't have a choice.

Finally I loaded up the kids and headed off to Tracy's. We had supper and the kids had fun playing. Tracy's hair turned black while she was sleeping (wink, wink). She washed her hair and Peach decided she wanted to look like 'Tacy' - see!

The good news is that our little baby nephew was brought into this world without complications. The drain tile project is almost complete. We had water by 8pm. I went to a house where my family is loved as if we were family.

It could have been worse, right? I mean, someone could have tried to kill me. I'll save that story for tomorrow.