Blogs 4 Bauer

How could I resist joining a web ring for 24 fanatics? Hubby did, and he has a picture of Kim posted. Um, isn't she like 12 or something? Me, I go for Jack...eye candy, ain't he?

"Tremendous Remorse?"

Paula Eleazar Mendez tells authorities that she smothered her three young children, between the ages of 6 and 8.

DE QUEEN, Ark. -- In Arkansas, authorities said a mother accused of smothering her three young children wrote notes that could help determine what led to the killings.

Her priest said the woman has expressed "tremendous remorse."

You know, remorse is fine if a crime was committed that didn't involve killing three children - especially your own. It's so nice that she is remorseful....la dee dah. Remorse won't change what she did...and it certainly won't bring her children back from the dead. She was so remorseful, she intended on poisoning herself so she wouldn't have to face up to the horrific crime she committed. Luckily that didn't work and now she'll have to serve her time, whatever that is.

I see an opening for "innocent for reasons of insanity" or some other "don't blame me" plea. Hers is a story that is eerily like the one of Andrea Yates - who hunted down and methodically drown her children. I don't see much difference here.

I know the three little children are in the arms of Jesus in Heaven and they no longer feel pain or fear. I pray for the rest of the family and those who were in their lives - that their hearts are not as heavy and they find the will to go on.

2-Month Old Miracle

It's nice when something that had a purposeful and expected bad ending doesn't quite turn out that way.

SAO PAULO, Brazil - A baby girl found inside a plastic bag floating on a lake in Brazil was released from hospital Sunday in good condition, doctors said.

The girl, apparently two months old, was rescued Saturday afternoon by a couple who heard her crying in the Pampulha Lagoon in Belo Horizonte, a city about 300 miles northeast of Sao Paulo.

Amateur footage broadcast on Brazilian TV showed rescuers using a long tree branch to pull the black plastic bag out of the water. They opened the bag and found the girl inside, dressed in a pink dress.

Just how did this little one, only 2-months-old, end up in a plastic bag in a lake? We may never know...

Authorities arrested the mother of the baby later Sunday, but she denied throwing the girl into the lake, Globo reported. The mother said she gave the baby away to a group of homeless people because she didn’t have enough money to raise the child.

While it is important to find out who did this so justice can be served, it is a joy to know that this little girl survived. I wish for her a safe and happy life, away from anyone who doesn't care enough for her that they thought it was okay to throw her away like every-day trash.

Sheehan for Senate?

Okay...once I get past the natural gagging reflex that is triggered when I think of Cindy Sheehan, perhaps her running for Senate isn't so far-fetched. I mean, she'd be in good company, right? Hillary and Kerry, Boxer and Kennedy and even good ole Chuck Hagel would welcome her with open arms. But this comment....I could help but laugh when I read it:

Sheehan said running in the Democratic primary would help make a broader point.

"If I decided to run, I would have no illusions of winning, but it would bring attention to all the peace candidates in the country," she said.

I wonder how those "peace candidates" would feel with Cindy Sheehan in their corner? I suspect they'd want to run - and run away fast!

Think of it, though. Sheehan would run against current liberal queen extraordinaire Dianne Feinstein. Who would be the lesser of two evils?

Real Life, Rachael Ray and Please Pass the Next DVD!

Hi everyone!

This is just a quick post to let you know I am still among the living. There have just been certain things that have gotten in the way of me posting anything of note:

The next "Every Day with Rachael Ray" is on my nightstand. Review will commence once I've read it cover to cover!

Work has been unbelievable! I'm running a million miles a minute there and I just don't want to do anything when I get home so my excuse is...

We are now on Season 2, Disc 3 of "24." Hubby and I have been averaging oh, about 3-4 hours a night immersing ourselves in terror plots, assassinations and wannabe first ladies. The suspense! Pretty soon we'll be throwing our kids a loaf of bread and some juice bags for dinner as we watch "the next episode." Whatever will we do when we reach the end of season 4? I don't know if I can wait a WEEK between episodes! Gah!!! Which is my reason for.....

Laundry, cleaning and bills are waiting in the wings to get done. It's really sad when you wash a load of mismatched laundry in "cold" with Woolite, just to get you through tomorrow. But it's "24." Gimme a break!

Don't you love my new skin? THANKS AGAIN SADIE LOU! I figured that for those of you who come here for Rachael Ray, John Cusimano and recipes, a nice "food" skin would be just the thing. do you like my Wusthofs? Heh!

Well...back to our warped world of counter-terrorism. I'll peek my head out from under my rock again soon!

Satan's Minion

I have to say that I'm not speechless very often (ask anyone who knows me), but this story did it. Not for the weak-hearted and for those of you with children, you'll want to hug them extra tight.

NEW YORK (AP) - In the eyes of her stepfather, 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown was an out-of-control troublemaker. She stole money from her parents and broke her siblings' toys, she stole milk from a younger sibling and broke their computer printer, he said.

And when he found that she had gone into the refrigerator and taken a cup of yogurt she wasn't supposed to have, he flew into a rage.

Police say Cesar Rodriguez beat the little girl to death, then tossed her on the floor of what was known in the family's apartment as the "dirty room," a rodent-infested room where she had been tied up and left with only a litter box as a toilet.

There are only a few people in this world that I would classify as fully lacking a soul - this bastard would be one of them - and I'm pretty convinced that the mother is a close second.

Rodriguez, 27, and Nixzmary's mother, Nixzaliz Santiago, 27, are charged with multiple felony counts, including second-degree murder. Rodriguez also is accused of molesting Nixzmary and abusing her five siblings.

Both have pleaded not guilty.

NOT GUILTY? Assholes. Let's just draw this out because you have a little anger-control problem...your "emotions" get carried away. If I had any influence, I'd ask to serve justice myself and it would taste like lead.

There had been warning signs.

Last May, a guidance counselor at Nixzmary's school reported the child had missed 47 days of school. The city's Administration for Children's Services responded immediately but closed the case weeks later.

The agency failed to find "educational neglect when it was clear the girl had not been attending school," said ACS Commissioner John Mattingly.

They not only failed in their findings. They failed a now dead little girl.

An indictment alleges that, beginning on New Year's Day, Rodriguez used anything he could to subdue the little girl he described as "a handful," including a belt, a piece of wood, a bungee cord.

Authorities said he bought yogurt for his children but refused to give Nixzmary any.

On the night of Jan. 10, Nixzmary's mother discovered one of the yogurt cups was missing, and she went to Rodriguez. The frightened girl denied taking it, but one of the other children tattled, authorities say.

Later, Rodriguez discovered his computer printer was broken.

He stripped Nixzmary of her clothes and beat her in front of Santiago, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes said.

He dragged her into the bathroom and repeatedly dunked her head under the cold water, and loud banging noises and screams of "Mommy" were heard throughout the apartment, authorities say. Rodriguez carried Nixzmary's limp body into the dirty room and tossed her to the floor, Hynes said.

I can't help but leave that exerpt in this post. I think people need to see this. So they keep the heat on these agencies who can't do their job and what the consequences are. So they can keep their ears and eyes open and protect little ones from abusive parents, caregivers, etc. So the next young girl can live and not get killed over a container of yogurt.

Before Nixzmary's little white coffin was laid to rest, the Rev. Robert O'Neil said her nightmare was finally over.

"Nixzmary is now surrounded by love, beyond the touch of evil," he said.

Amen.

I'm.An.Addict

I started watching "24" with the 5th Season Premiere last weekend. I was hooked immediately within 1-2 minutes of our 4-hour Tivo viewing.

We had bought season one on DVD, and I've been neglecting life in general (sleep, work, cleaning, dishes, cooking) as I've been immersed in the life of Jack Bauer.

I just returned from Wal-Mart and Best Buy, during which time I bought seasons two, three and four on DVD.

Is there a 12-step program for this show?

Poor Leslie Demeniuk

This is no mother:

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A mother is convicted in the slaying of her children.

After six days of testimony, a jury deliberated only about three hours before returning its verdict: Leslie Demeniuk is guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of her 4-year-old twin sons in 2001.

Prosecutor Noah McKinnon told the jury it was a brutal case of first-degree murder.

Mr. McKinnon is right. This woman shot both of her four year old boys. Nothing else but brutal could come close to describing it. The prosecutor stated that this woman looked her son in the eye, put the gun to his forehead and shot him. I call that calculated...the defense calls it insanity (emphasis mine).

The defense argued that alcohol mixed with antidepressants led to the shocking incident and that Demeniuk was delusional when she shot the boys. ::snip::

In his closing arguments defense attorney Bill Sheppard passionately disagreed with the prosecution, claiming that prescription drugs and alcohol mixed to cause Demeniuk to become temporarily insane.

"Why it happened was because Leslie Demeniuk did not know the difference between right and wrong at the precise moment that she pulled the trigger," Sheppard said.

"The only explanation for these hideous actions is that she thought she was saving her children. She was taking them to a better place," Sheppard said. "It was because of a total delusion."

You have got to be kidding. Reread that piece. This woman had four-year-old twin boys who she SHOT and killed - her own sons! The prosecution stated that she had been on phone calls prior to the murders and was anything but delusional or insane, which is why the defense came up with the "insane at the moment she pulled the trigger" bullshit.

The jury saw through the bullshit, they only deliberated three hours. This bitch is no victim. She slayed her kids...kids that had a full life ahead of them. If there is one saving grace, they are free from her...if she had it in her to kill her poor kids, I can't imagine what she did to them while they were still alive.

Baby's Body Abandoned in Cemetery

What happened here?

OMAHA, Neb. -- Council Bluffs police are investigating a fetus abandoned in cemetery Saturday.

A couple walking in the Cedar Lawn Cemetery made the discovery in the crest lawn section and they called Council Bluffs police.

An autopsy was performed on the fetus at 10 a.m. Monday Investigators said it was a 17-week-old male.

"We have a fetus; we believe it's about 17 weeks in term and it's possibly been outside for two weeks," said Sgt. Jerry Mann, of the Council Bluffs Police Department.

My heart breaks thinking about him being abandoned. Understandably this could have been a miscarriage, but to abandon the child's body in a cemetery (obviously he hadn't been buried as a couple happened upon his body as they were walking) invokes such sadness in me.

I can't help but think those who rally to allow women to suck their babies out of the womb and into a sink has had some influence on the woman who abandoned this baby. Human life should mean more than this.

The MSM is not Biased in their Views!

I usually check the local news before work, mostly to see what the weather is like. But when I see a headline like this, I feel compelled to stop by and rant for just a minute:

"Senior Citizen Loses Bid to Avoid Execution"

You can't tell me the author of this story doesn't have bias one way or the other - I mean, c'mon! The senior citizen in question is Clarence Ray Allen, a 76-year-old who could be the oldest man to ever be executed in California. I guess the author has forgotten what Clarence Ray Allen is guilty of.

He was sentenced to death in 1980 for hiring a hit man who killed three people at a Fresno market. Allen already was serving a sentence for murder at the time the hit was ordered.

He had murdered someone, was serving a sentence, and then ordered a hit from his prison cell which caused the death of three additional people. Ah....this guy is just your normal grandfatherly type, right?

It's interesting that the news station where I got this story is running a poll to see how many people think this death row inmate should get his sentenced reduced to life (I mean after all the poor guy is a sick, elderly man and execution at this point would be inhumane) or whether the execution should take place. When I looked at the poll this morning, 83% of voters felt he should be executed for the crimes he committed. Surprise, surprise...yet another MSM author who doesn't have the pulse on readership. Go figure.

Update: So I come home from work to find they've changed the article's title to "76-Year-Old Man Faces Execution in California." Interesting how things change in a matter of hours. It doesn't mean they still aren't looking for our sympathy. The article references that his birthday was Monday (today?) and that he is legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair. What they fail to point out directly is that his victims aren't legally blind, nearly deaf and in a wheelchair...they are DEAD.

Send Up Your Prayers!

Please pray for a fellow MuNuvian. He needs our support!

He Was Guilty

Roger Keith Coleman was executed in 1992 and up until his death claimed innocence regarding his conviction for raping and murdering his wife's sister.

The case has been watch closely because DNA testing was being done to confirm his guilt. Had the test results come back showing he did not perform these acts, it would have opened a flood-gate as it relates to capital punishment. The test results have come back and, indeed, they confirmed his guilt.

The tests, announced by the governor earlier this month, prove Roger Keith Coleman was guilty of the 1981 rape and murder of his sister-in-law, Gov. Mark R. Warner said.

Coleman was convicted and sentenced to death in 1982 for the murder of 19-year-old Wanda McCoy, his wife's sister, who was found raped, stabbed and nearly beheaded in her home in the coal mining town of Grundy.

The report from the Centre of Forensic Sciences in Toronto concluded there was almost no conceivable doubt that Coleman was the source of the sperm found in the victim.

"The probability that a randomly selected individual unrelated to Roger Coleman would coincidentally share the observed DNA profile is estimated to be 1 in 19 million," the report said.

I'm satisfied with the results of the DNA testing in Coleman's case. I am a proponent of the death penalty. My support of the death penalty goes way back to my high school days on the debate team. Our debate coach would make us argue on the side we disagreed with in order to build strategy. It really only affirmed my support and belief in it. As the years have passed, and DNA tests and other tests have been able to bring forward more evidence, the death penalty seems even more relevant to me. Now the chances of convicting an innocent person are not as likely as they were in the past.

I've seen the legal wranglings over the years reduce the effectiveness of the death penalty as in many cases they are nothing more than life sentences on steriods. Appeal after appeal and after that years of waiting to actually carry out the sentence. It isn't the penalty itself that's flawed, it's the lack of carrying it out expeditiously that reduces its intended effect - deter criminals from performing such terrible acts.

Don't get me wrong. I believe that in such cases, an appeals process can and should be offered and in some cases, I could possibly be convinced that a life sentence may be fitting. But to see a criminal sentenced to death sit on death row for years and years and years is almost criminal itself. To the families impacted by their crimes, to the tax payer who is paying for their care and to the officer's who risk their lives managing within the prisons they reside.

James McCloskey, executive director of Centurion Ministries, had been fighting to prove Coleman's innocence since 1988. The two shared Coleman's final meal together — cold slices of pizza — just a few hours before Coleman was executed.

"I now know that I was wrong. Indeed, this is a bitter pill to swallow," McCloskey said, describing Thursday's findings as "a kick in the stomach" and adding that he felt betrayed by Coleman.

It's unfortunate, Mr. McCloskey, but murderers are typically pretty good liars, too.

Welcome to the New Merri Musings!

Look around, get comfy and enjoy the view! I'm so happy you found your way here!

Thanks to Sadie over at Apothegm Designs, I'm settling into my new mu.nu digs...don't you think they look just awesome? Please share your comments about the site so Sadie can get the proper kudos she deserves!

More to come....just getting my feet wet! Thanks for coming over this way...good to see you in da house!

Pardon The Dust

This blog is under construction. Thanks for your patience, Merri Musings readers!

Andrea Yates and Other Criminals

As I'm sure everyone has heard, Andrea Yates, who decided to meticulously drown all of her children is now pleading "innocent" by reason of insanity.

During her original trial, jurors rejected Yates' insanity defense and found her guilty for the 2001 deaths of three of the children drowned in the family bathtub: 7-year-old Noah, 5-year-old John and the youngest, 6-month-old Mary.

Evidence was presented about the drownings of the other two children — Paul, 3, and Luke, 2 — but Yates was not charged in their deaths.

Yates was convicted of two capital murder charges and sentenced to life in prison.

As I'm sure you heard that her original conviction was overturned and we now will start the circus all over again.  I'm sure I sound like a broken record, but AGAIN there's more worry about this less than human being than the 5 children - her OWN children - that she stalked, and methodically drown one-by-one.  Noah, John, Mary, Paul and Luke certainly have no say, do they?

I'm all for assuring this pig of a human being never sees the light of day, but it's a tragedy that this has to play out again and will be "media'd" into the ground.  We will hear it over and over...but will it be about the kids she slaughtered?  NO...it will be about poor Andrea Yates. 

Just when I think I can't be disgusted any more, my hubby throws this link over my way:

Omaha police said a 4-week-old girl was treated Friday at Creighton University Medical Center for multiple fractures to both of her legs.

The media, in all of their brilliance, report that it appears to be abuse.  No, really?  I thought maybe she played a spirited game of rugby and suffered a bit of a fall.  Of COURSE it should be treated as potential abuse...this little one is only 4-weeks old.  What insane piece of human waste could do this to a child?  I can only wait patiently to see how this will turn out.  But I predict, somehow, that the law will be more in the interest of the criminal versus the well being of the child.  Let's hope I'm wrong.

Update:  The infant in the last story is actually 4-months old, but it doesn't change the fact that she was abused.  Guess who is charged?  The baby's "mom" whose name is Anna Mis-Guiterrez.  A mother, breaking her four-month-old little girl's legs.  What did this innocent little girl do to deseve it?  Nothing.  Will this woman, should she be convicted, get a just sentence?  Sure hope so.

STFU, Harry Belefonte

CARACAS, Venezuela — The American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world" on Sunday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez. 

First of all, speak for yourself, idiot.  You cannot possibly prove or believe that millions of free Americans - people who have the very right and freedom to speak out against their own president that you mock - would support such crap at the level you "report."  Regular polling systems aren't even wholly accurate, so what did you do to get this data....ask 50 people on a street corner and call that statistically significant for all Americans? 

Belafonte accused U.S. news media of falsely painting Chavez as a "dictator," when in fact, he said, there is democracy and citizens are "optimistic about their future."

I'm leaning the media's way this time, Harry.  Of course, if it wasn't for the media, we wouldn't be hearing your ridiculous line of bullshit, but again, we live in a FREE country, dumbass.

Belafonte, take your little "America hating" friend Danny Glover with you and get the hell out of this country if you think it is so bad.  See what it would "really" be like to live in a country ruled by a terrorist and see how long you would last spewing the stuff you do.  In the U.S., you have the freedom to say what you do, even though you look like a clown.  In some other country, you sure could say it, but you'd then get a feel for what real terrorism is when you woke up with a sword slicing your head from your body.

Criminal Victims and Other Such Stupidity

I'm sorry to need to update you on the story I brought you here and here.  Where we left off was that this in-home childcare provider, April Rogers, had murdered a 6-month-old little boy left in her care.  She had tried to pin his injuries and subsequent death on a toddler in the daycare, but eventually got caught.  Following her arrest, it was revealed that she was also pregnant and used that as an excuse to attempt to reduce her bond, which was denied by the judge.  Her original plea was "not guilty" even though she admitted she had slammed this innocent 6-month-old's head repeatedly into the floor.  Her new plea?  Not responsible by reason of insanity. 

The former home day care operator charged in the death of a six-month old boy has changed her plea.

April Rogers initially pleaded not guilty to the charge of felony child abuse resulting in death.

She changed her plea to not responsible by reason of insanity.

She will be evaluated to determine whether depression was a factor. Investigators say Rogers admitted to shaking Alex Tay and slamming the baby's head against the floor.

The "not responsible by reason of insanity" plea is such a bullshit plea and in my mind shouldn't even exist.  Um, don't you think anyone who kills anyone is theoretically insane?  Do you think it is sane to kill your own parents (Menendez brothers)?  Do you think it's sane to stalk and murder dozens of women (Ted Bundy, I-5 killer, BTK killer)?  Do you think it's sane to murder men and eat them for dinner (Dahmer)?  Do you think it's sane to beat an innocent six-month-old child's head repeatedly into the floor until he is dead (Rogers)?  NO!  But if a person commits, and ADMITS, to any of these crimes, they are responsible and should be charged and sentenced accordingly.  If there is something wrong with a person's mental condition - Rogers' case suggests post-pardem, depression, and hormonal changes with her 4th pregnancy - I think it's much more prudent to protect others from the potential harm that person could induce versus slapping them in a hospital a few months and declaring them "cured" or "rehabilitated."

Just thinking about this case, and how it could potentially progress infuriates me because of the protection and leniency that tends to be shown to these "victim" criminals.  There's also this huge focus on "rehabilitation" for the criminal so he or she can go back into society.  Did you happen to read the story of the man who repeatedly raped a child for years and only got a sixty day sentence?

A sexual deviant who repeatedly abused a child over a four-year period got a slap on the wrist in a Vermont courtroom this week and will be free to walk the streets in as few as 60 days. That is an appalling and unacceptable outcome.

Mark Hulett of Williston admitted to assaulting the girl for years, beginning when she was only 6. Prosecutors wanted Hulett jailed for eight years, although he could have received life in prison. But when the Corrections Department refused to offer treatment to Hulett in jail, Judge Edward Cashman set the jail term at a minimum of 60 days -- with a clear emphasis on the shorter sentence and conditions that included treatment for his deviancy.

This judge placed the interests of the criminal ahead of the child.  This beast ruined this child's life by repeatedly raping her from the age of six to the age of ten and now this heathen could be walking the streets with the same child in as few as 2 months.  What does the judge have to say about his decision?

Cashman said he's more concerned now about rehabilitation.

"The one message I want to get through is that anger doesn't solve anything. It just corrodes your soul," Cashman told a packed Burlington courtroom made up mostly of people related to the victim.

How could you NOT be angry and want justice for a monster who willingly rapes a six year old and continues to do it for years?  But because there's some inkling of insanity or because he may be able to be rehabilitated we should be okay letting him hang out in jail for 60 days?  This girl was terrorized for FOUR YEARS already.  This judge has effectively sentenced her to a life of worrying that she'll see this man standing on the street before her each time she turns a corner.  And in the case of April Rogers, should she get some kind of reduced sentence, or time spent in a mental hospital, it could put her back into society sooner where she will have access to someone else's child, or even her own.

My thought?  If someone commits a crime such as these, they should be able to plea and be tried with pleas of guilty or not guilty.  If they are found guilty time should be served appropriate to the crime.  If part of that sentence is treatment for mental disorders, so be it.  But it shouldn't allow them to not take responsibility for the crime they committed and admitted to.  They should be held responsible and serve the time appropriate to the act.  After all, no one can bring little six-month-old Alex Tay back and no one can erase the harm caused to a young girl who was raped for four years.  BUT, justice should be delivered and criminals should be held responsible for the acts they commit.  No matter what.

Beth's Right Meme Conspiracy

I've got to say, when I first saw that Beth had tagged me for a meme, I was a bit concerned, especially when the topic was to speak about five weird things about yourself.  Then I read Beth's post and knew I couldn't possibly be as weird as her.  Heh.  HAHAHAH!

Anyway, so I'm supposed to come up with five weird things.  I asked my hubby one weird thing I do, and he just couldn't come up with anything.  Yeah, right.  He just REFUSED to go there.  Eh, I guess I can't blame him.  We do live in the same house and all, huh?!?!

So I'm left to my own devices....here goes!

1)  I don't really like ketchup as a rule, but will eat it on certain things.  I do not like ketchup on french fries at all.  I *do* like it on hot dogs and hamburgers, but it grosses me out if there's too much of it - like when it squishes out between the buns and oozes everywhere...how disgusting!  I can only handle a thin (very thin) line across a hot dog and if it is on a burger, it can only be as much as what would moisten the bun enough to stick to the burger.  The worst thing?  A hamburger patty sliding around inside an overly "condimented" burger....ACK!  I guess I'm just not a condiment over-doer.

2)  I can't eat nuts in things.  Cookies, cakes, ice cream, fudge....don't ruin it by putting nuts in it!  Those things have just the right consistency without nuts.  Do I like nuts?  Absolutely....but by themselves, or in peanut M 'n' Ms.  As an example, ice cream is supposed to melt in your mouth with nothing left.  If you have nuts in the ice cream, well, you have to chew it.  Or all you have left is a mouth full of nuts and no ice cream. 

3)  I can't seem to finish a bottle of pop.  Just today, I thew away 3 partially full bottles at work.  You see, pop has to be cold.  Ice cold.  If it doesn't stay ice cold, I can't drink it.  and I can't pour warm pop over a cup full of ice.  The ice melts too fast and waters down the pop and makes it less fizzy.  I like ice cold pop - so cold that ice particles are starting to form in the bottle or can.  Now THAT's what I'm talking about.  This applies to beer as well, which is why I don't drink beer often.  I've been known to put ice in my beer to keep it cold, which I'm told is an absolute NO NO (whoops - starting to sound like Beth with all the "food issues" going on...better change the subject!)!

4)  Why am I full of useless information?  I can recite full portions of movies, I can sing you most 80s songs, even down to the grunts and moans in a few Prince songs.  But I can't remember the conversation we had an hour ago without taking notes.  ...and the 80s were like, 20 years ago.  Why is this?

5)  I have a tendency to drive people nuts at work due to my almost anal retentive organization skills.  I have certain ways I name files so they can be easier to find alphabetically.  I have a label maker to note exactly what is contained in each section of my employees' personnel folders.  But if you walked into my house, you would never know about my "secret" life as an organizational freak at work.  I'm lucky to find the most important papers I need at home (i.e. social security cards, birth certificates, etc.)  And let's not even talk about finding tape - unless it is all over my daughter's room or some other strange place.  And it's amazing how many pens I find on top of the fridge - but I guess that comes from having a 4-year-old artist in the house.

What I find frightening about this meme is that I could go on and on.  But thank God I am able to stop at 5!

I originally decided that I wasn't going to tag anyone, but thought it would be fun to tag my hubby just to see what he would say (if, indeed, he does it).  So tag, Honey, you're it!

Twelve Miners in WV

Here is what I posted last night, right before bed:

Absolutely a miracle!  While one miner was found dead, the remaining twelve were found ALIVE!

All I have to say to that is AMEN! 

I pray for the family whose miner didn't survive...may their hearts heal and may they find peace.

As we now know today, that report was false.  It's heartbreaking to know that the opposite was true, and the vast majority of these miners lost their lives.  I truly pray for all of their families at this time.  I hope answers can be revealed about why this happened.  To bring joy to the families for a number of hours and then take it away is tragic in and of itself.  This is one post I wish I never had to update. 

The First Cotillion of 2006!

This is my first post of the new year, and none better than to link over to the Cotillion Ball this week!  I finally had some time to submit a post, and the Cotillion's own Wonder Woman at A North American Patriot highlights our posts with outstanding finesse!  Beautiful job!!!  Oh, and I also discovered her mutual love for SpongeBob.  I, too, am a fan! 

I also encourage you to take a look around at those amazing sites referenced in my sidebars.  I am experiencing huge volumes of work due to year-end and all of that, so my posts will be sparse this week (at least until I meet a Thursday deadline...ack!). 

You may also want to take a look around these four walls as some changes are a'comin!  No secrets revealed just yet, but let's just say the new year represents a time of change!

Happy New Year! 2006!

Happy New Year, friends!

I tip my glass to you, because if I tipped it toward me, I'd get it all over my shirt!

See you after a good sleep and some Advil!