Jury Duty

ok, so i have WANTED, yes WANTED to get called for jury duty for some time now. the only summons i ever got was when i was 8 months pregnant with my son and so i could not do it. everyone i know that ever got one hated that they got one. i hated that people that hated to get one always ended up being the ones that got one! (follow that?) i agree with my mom, they should allow you to sign up to be on juries and pull only from them! lol so anyway, the day came, i got my letter! i was so excited. my husband kept making fun of me, even though he knew i WANTED to go. which on a side note, i thought it hysterical when a few weeks later he got his own summons! haha!

so i looked forward to the day i would get to start calling to see if i got picked. i called the night before. my group number was 14, they called for groups 1-12! darn it! then i realized i was on hold the entire week, not being able to plan things "in case" i was called. well that part stunk! so monday night, i called, my group was called! yes!!! however, they were calling for a horrendous rainstorm that next morning. i knew chris was not anxious to drive me down during rush hour to begin with (cuz i do NOT drive downtown, i am way too chicken) but if he had to do it in a rainstorm i was sure he would not be happy. luckily the rain held off until after i was down there.
now i am grateful that he drove me down, however he was ready to drop me off at a big building he THOUGHT was the right one, while it was still dark and me not knowing where anything downtown was! so much for a caring protective husband! lol

ok, fastforward past the nervous the night before, getting up earlier than i have all year blah blah! i go into the building, nervous to even go through the metal detector, was i going to have some item that was totally innocent to me that they would deem terrorist worthy (again see why i don't like to go downtown). where was i to go after i went through the metal detectors? luckily they told me, second floor. i could either take the stairs which i could see or take the elevator, which i had no idea where it was. i took the stairs. fast forward to the assembly room. i sat next to an older lady named judy. we got to talking, i really hoped we would be in the same group. i liked judy alot, judy had the same voters guide in her purse that she got from her church as i did! we got along great!!! judy had been summonsed before but never made it onto a jury. judy told me about how mean they could be to possible jurors who did things like bring their preschoolers with them because their wife had recently died and had no one to watch the kids! if they can be mean to a man like that, what were they going to do to me!? i was begining to see why people didn't want to go to jury duty and i realllly didn't want to loose judy! they had 3 courts needing jurors that day so they seperated us all into 3 groups. judy, was not in my group.

my group finally got called to the court room. 12 of us were called into the juror seats while the rest had to sit out in the audience. we were greeted, very friendly, we were told what the case would be (i was sooo hoping for a good robbery or murder where i would have great satisfaction in saying "GUILTY! and putting them away! Dirty criminals!!!" ) the case was an ex girlfriend that keyed her ex's Ford 150.......can you hear the air come out of my balloon?! "WHY was this even being brought before a JURY!!! why couldn't a single judge resolve this case? judge judy does it alllll the time! but.....it is what it is.....

so they started the voir dire, which basically is them questioning (or drilling, depending on whose doing the describing) of the prospective jurors. now this was the last part i was really nervous about. were they going to discover some deep dark secret about myself that even I didn't know about, by asking me certain questions and tricking me into divulging something super secret? yes i can be a bit dramatic when i envision things. turns out they ask pretty simple questions, but evidently some people also worry they are trying to trick us in those questions and make the answers more complicated than need be! "Mr. Whosit, if i tell you the crime is vandalism of a vehicle, do you need to know when the last time the parking lot was paved?" Mr. Whosit's reply, "well, it depends on what kind of damage was done to the vehicle" "OK. let me put this another way, do you need to know if the car next to it, had grass on it's tires?" Mr. Whosit: "Depends on if the damage could have been caused by the mower kicking rocks up on the vehicle"...... Mr. Whosit was dismissed from being on the jury. so you would think we would all understand the route they were going, they were asking simple questions and wanted simple answers. "Ms. previously served on a jury, would you say the flag behind the judge is an American flag?" Ms. PSJ: " i believe so" "And how do you know it is the American flag?" Ms. PSJ: " because it looks like it is", " and do you need to examine it and count all the stars on it to know it's the American flag?" Ms.PSJ :"yes i would need to count each star and make sure it was".........."Mrs. Toth, do you think that is the American flag?" "yes", "why do you think it is? ", "because we are in america, because this is a courtroom, because it makes sense to be and it appears to be" , " do you need proof that it is the american flag?" "no, i feel sure it is". Mrs. Toth made it on the jury! :-)

quick note here to say, right before we could start, we were moved into a small hallway because we were under a tornado warning, i was so bummed i could not be home watching this awesome storm!!

ok, let me just say, i was sure from the begining this lady probably keyed the truck, i was just waiting for the prosecution (who looked like they just stepped out of high school btw) to wow me with their overwhelming evidence. they had 2 witnesses, the defense had none, the defense was not even going to get on the stand herself. let me tell you, i don't know if this was the prosecution's first case or if this was a "learning courtroom" or what, but they did NOT do a good job. their first witness......not very credible. i think he was confused as to where he even was. at one point, he answered the question "how do you know it was that lady here in the courtroom" (which btw, the second prosecution lawyer had to be reminded to even ask him to point out if the guilty party was in the courtroom) the man replied "cuz she had long hair! she had long hair then and she has long hair now! " that was the only way he could identify her. plus, i am not being ugly or sarcastic when i say, i think he really was very mentally slow and did not understand even simple questions. i have NO idea why he was put on the stand. the 2 witnesses probably lost their case for them cuz they provided us with more inconsistencies and more questions that ultimately gave us more and more reasonable doubt.

fast forward again to the deliberation. we get back in the room. now i took exactly 2 lines of notes, there really wasn't that much to write down, it was a pretty simple case. however Ms. PSJ took 3 long pages of notes. as did some of the other jurors. i really had no idea what you could have written down, but i was soon to find out. we sat down and i said "can i just throw out there, i think there is so much reasonable doubt, i don't think we can find this lady guilty". EVERYONE wholeheartedly agreed.....yet.....we had to spend the next HOUR going over how many feet there actually was from the first witness (who was described above that everyone decided right away was not even credible) and the lady keying the truck, and over every piece of their notes that they took. i guess so they did not feel like they took those notes in vain! all's i could say is, "it's an american flag, can we sign the paper and go home?!" now i would not have been like that if there was anyone who honestly had a question about whether there was enough evidince or not, but we all agreed right away that there was NOT! so whyyyyyy did they want to draw this stupid thing out. it was THEN i realized why no one wants to go on jury duty.....not for the fools they have to sit in judgement on, but rather the fools they have to deliberate WITH!!!

at any rate, i really enjoyed my overall experience, everyone that worked there was super friendly and did everything they could, to make us comfortable and happy (maybe judy never got that far and did not get to experience that part, and i hate that i have to wait 2 yrs before they can call me again!

Hooray For Friend Day!

My high school bff came to town this week from Arizona! One of my favorite things about this friend is no matter how much time goes by, we can pick up right where we left off! Although our activities now when we hang out, are not as likely to get us arrested, (* see pic circa 1993), it is still just as much fun!!! btw, i am SURE i do not recognize the two crazy girls below!


Our day started off when i picked her up at 10 AM! we headed to the apple orchard cuz she had told me she wanted to go some where we could pick fruit! (once there she informed me, when she got to town her dad had already "picked fruit" (ya he picked her up at the airport! lol j/k tee!) and she didn't really need any more!) however, i did so we asked for some bags, they informed us unfortunetly, they had already been all picked out since 3 weeks ago but there were some for sale there in the store, so part of our day is based on what WOULD have happened! :-)

First up, we (and i mean she) picked our apples (there was a lone apple on the ground)

(if you hold said apple up to the tree, it appears as if she is picking it from the tree!)

Then we decided to take a picture of us together, i needed desperately to find something to hide my lower region behind, and, well, the straw worked (just keeping it real here).

really like these pics of the mums they had for sale. no real story behind these pics but aren't they pretty to look at......

they also demonstrate what good camera she has, so i now know what kind of camera to ask chris for christmas!!! :-)

Loved this little lady!

Ugh! let me tell you, we picked so many apples....(truthfully only 2 bags off the table, but that doesn't make for an interesting story)

Then we decided to have them checked for worms (truthfully, there were some of the sweetest ladies there sorting apples, love this orchard!)

Our final product of all our hard work (truthfully, christi had to ask them to take the paper off the baskets so she could take a picture that would make it look like we picked all these)

Love the decorations in the store, they should sell those too, errr...i mean we then helped to paint all the signs in their store as they recognized us to be very talented ladies right away, really... just from talking to us!!

THEN as if all that picking wasn't enough work, we then canned a bunch of preserves, apple butter, etc..... but gee doesn't my pantry look so nice......(truthfully i don't even know what all is in these jars, we didn't even look, but we had to continue the story)

Next up, i told christi to stand there, what a wonderful pic it would be, she disagreed and felt it would be too dark to see the sign. i as usual, argued my case.....wehehelllll, i think we can see, you CAN see the sign, albeit dark, but really, i feel i was right on this argument (truthfully, she was)

While there, one of the sweet ladies who worked there and is related to the owners told us how they did not like it when kids climbed in the apple trees, however christi, being the rebel she was, decided if you are gonna tell her she CAN'T do something, she will just show you she CAN!!! (personally i think she is taking Obama's "yes we can" a little too far! ) As you can see she climbed anyway.......

Then it was time to leave all our hard work (truthfully swatting away bees from her hot cider was the most work we did! ) and i decided we would have an adventure and turn a different way out of the orchard to see if i could get us to greenwood a little faster. Christi, not having lived here for several years, trusted my directional skills completely! (truthfully, she had to get us back to town after i got us lost) and as one would expect on such an adventure in the country in the fall....the colors were beautiful!

after that wonderfully scenic drive (truthfully, it really was pretty when i wasn't trying to figure out where we were ) we had worked up quite the appetite, so i decided it was time for tee to meet my other friend named MOE!! They are quite welcoming when we go to MOE'S house!

Lastly, to top off the perfect day, we went craft store shopping (truthfully we only hit Hobby Lobby, then we went to Walmart) where christi informed me she was trying to find stuff to wear on her 3 day walk for breast cancer..... i thought these beautiful flowers would be perfect if worn appropriately, you can see christi had an idea of WHERE to wear them! (truthfully, i came up with the dirty idea, but i still think it would be funnY) i had to convince her that was totally inappropriate and to put them back (truthfully she was on to me and said she would not let ME get her to spend HER money! lol) i ofcourse was so disciplined and left the store with nothing ( truthfully, i think we all know THAT was the biggest lie, err fairytale in the whole story! but i will not divulge what i got....)

sadly that was the end to our fairytale day of fun! HOORAY FOR FRIEND DAY!!!

**** this friend day was brought to you by christi and angi.....aka Tee and Gee!

Drop Spice Doughnuts!

so i totally stole this off another person's blog. the original came from "Old Farmhouse Cooking" but they are really good so i wanted to share it with my friends who may not read her blog. but i gotta give credit where credit is due, especially if you make these and dont' like them! lol They were super easy and quick! i would put a link to this other blog cuz she has some other really good recipes but i am computer challenged in that area. my review, they were good, but i would probably add a bit more cinnamon or even apple pie spice to the mix. also some diced up apple and or nuts would be really good in it too! but we ate them as is for now. even sent some home with my mom for my dad. it made quite a few. i used a melon baller to keep them uniform size.

Drop Spice Doughnuts
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
2/3 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
2 heaping tbsp. baking powder

Combine all ingredients

Use a spoon to drop batter into hot oil.

After several minutes flip doughnuts and fry on the other side.
Check to be sure they are fried all the way through.

Place on paper towels.
Roll in granulated sugar or shake in powdered sugar.

i want cutesy blogs too!

i see/read all these really cute blogs. cute background, fun gadgets and widgets and hoo hahs! in a whiny voice i want all that too....however i am blog retarded! (*btw, i know it may be politically incorrect to use the word retarded, but retarded literally means slow and i am litterally blog slow, so if you take offense, be offended that i am blog slow, not of the word retarded).

i think my favorite blog, my blog of choice if you will, is "the imperfect housewife" she cracks me up. y'all should go and read her blog. i can so relate on so many levels. but she has all these cute little sidebar things if you will and is so funny in her blogs, makes me feel like the wallflower of the blogging world! lol in that effect, i guess she annoys me like the skinny girl that calls herself fat! lol then if you view my friend jill's pictures on her blog, oh boy, i feel like i have hand drawn my pictures! lol then i tried adding music like my friend jenifer (who rarely blogs so i don't feel too terrible about hers vs mine! LOL) and it ended up loud and annoying and now i have to figure out how to get if off there.

i am married to a computer geek, er i mean tech, and i have relied on him for all my computer needs, however i think i did myself a disservice in not learning myself. i have flunked computer 101 i think!
one last thing, does anyone else have issue with uploading pics on here. if i dont' upload them in the order of last first and slide them down like that, it gets all kinds of crazy trying to place them. am i doing something stupid or is that just how it goes and i need to put my big girl panties on and deal with it?

this week

sunday,frankie talked to Pastor Felber about baptism. i suprised myself when i started welling up with tears while listening to him explain how he felt about wanting to learn more and his take on how Satan attacks us: "not in the same place where we could maybe build up an immunity, but he keeps attacking us in different places where we least expect it. he plays dirty!" so happy my son "gets it" and wants so desperately to fight for God. afterwards, while discussing his baptism, he asked "mom will there be an applause afterward?" i told him, probably not but there sure would be alot of AMENS!!

Also found out this week that a dear, dear friend was diagnosed with lupus. not sure of all the details, but she is a young woman with a promising future and i certainly will be praying for her.

Tried a new recipe this week. always nervous to do that! i am not a fan of instant oatmeal, i want to be, but i just can't get passed the texture. however, i do like oatmeal cookies and i love the smell of oatmeal! lol so i tried a recipe for baked oatmeal and added some diced apple to it. we all thought it was ok. chris and i felt it needed more apple, the kids said NO apple! so i will probably make it in two different pans next time, one with lots of apple and one without, maybe add a few choc chips in theirs for them! will definetly be good on a cold winter morning and it really tasted better heated up the next day anyway!

have been having a hard time with gracie sleeping wise. she keeps wanting to sleep out on the couch. we have been struggling with her sleeping habits since birth! i talked to chris about possibly getting a day bed for her so it would be more like a couch, but he did not want to invest that much money on a "possibility". i can't blame him, we have tried so many things in the past that did not work. so we moved her bed right up against the wall in a corner so she had the hard wall against two sides of her bed, then i went and bought 2 $10 bodypillows and made the "back of the couch" and her regular pillows for one end of "the couch" she uses her soft body pillow to block her in on the open side......so far she says it has really made her feel comfortable and has slept through the night in her room. yea! also while out getting the pillows i saw an asian woman wearing a red and white stripped sweater with tan and black plaid pants, gave me flashbacks to the mismatched patterns my grandma used to wear! i loved it! i would never wear it, but i loved it! lol

so far i have gotten all our bedrooms, living room, dinning room and kitchen decluttered, organized and clean! a huge task for a girl who was not taught how to clean your house other than a mad dash right before company comes.....even then i was only given the tasks to clean my room and dust! lol even those things didn't take! lol i have been a hoarder and an unorganized, messy one at that! so this has been a huge triumph for me. i can remember my mom coming and cleaning my room as a teenager, if i was gone for a long enough period. i was fine with it as long as i didn't know or realize what she threw out, however when she threw out the plastic easter egg that held chris armstrong's chewed up gum (yes i was boderline stalker!lol) i could about have died! now i go into gracie's room and see she has become worse than i was!! lol and she's not even a teenager yet!! i really hate when my mom's words "how can you live in this mess" or something to that effect come out of MY mouth! lol oh well, maybe i can break the cycle! lol well i better go cover the bird's cage and plan my chores for tommorow.....

my son the missionary!

wanted to share with you all cuz quite frankly (no pun intended!) it's very exciting to me! some good news, frankie announced to us today that although he has said he wanted to be a zoologist since he could talk, he really feels God is calling him into the field of missions. he wants to be a missionary! i said frankie i think that is wonderful. if you still feel that way when you graduate, your dad and i will support you 100% ! i said, i do believe you need to think about getting baptized, he said i want to mom, but i feel like i need to get to know God a little better first. i told him let's just talk to pastor ferber on sunday and see what he says. (i don't want to push him into baptizim, but i really feel he needs to do it). then chris was teasing him and said you gonna be like john, or paul, and i said hopefully with a happier ending, and he looked me in the eye and very seriously said, mom, if that is what God's will for me is, i'm ok with it. i asked him what has made him think this, he said, the last few weeks in his bible lesson he'd kinda been feeling like it but wanted to see if the feeling would go away. he said he thinks he's going to start reading his bible now during his 10 min breaks during school time........God is GOOD!! even if he doesn't follow down this path, just his willingness to listen to God and to do whatever God wants, his desire to serve him, makes me a very happy mama! AND really makes me feel we have done the right thing in homeschooling.