TheMommyBlog

Friday, October 03, 2008 Me, Me, Me

So I hear we’re going to have anywhere from one-half to two inches of rain today. I can’t even remember the last time it rained. The problem is that I’ve got half the contents of my garage out on the patio while the inside’s being painted.

This morning the skies were looking mighty pissed and ready to roll, so I hustled out there in my jammies and clogs to lug all cardboard boxes, pictures, leftover broken-down boxes from mom’s move that are still here because I had a place to store them and could feed them to recycling over the next couple months, chandelier, pool towels & luggage, and finally the boxed Christmas tree back into the garage and left them on the tarps that are still down because the painter can’t finish until Saturday.

Lastly, I pulled one of his massive plastic tarps off the stuff in the garage (sorry, Jon) and put it over the rest of the stuff I couldn’t budge off the patio. I’ve got a six-foot tower made up of all kinds of treasure stuffed into a baker’s rack right next to the teak table, all wrapped in plastic that I hope will repel rain as well as it repelled about twelve gallons of primer and paint. It doesn’t look very promising, but luckily it’s right in front of my face outside the window where I sit so I can get out there if the wind picks it up and decides to run with it.

Other than that, I’ll be hunkered down under a blanket on the couch, drinking coffee, watching Lost, and being happy about being called back for a second interview at a very nice job.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 Family

Emails from home:

For those who have followed news of Chicago Policeman Mike Mette, the Appellant Court and Iowa has overturned his felony conviction citing that the judge was wrong to not allowing a plea of self defense in the trail. This is all good news. Iowa still has options but none compared to a felony conviction.

Thank you for your support for my friend and his family!

You may or not remember my posting about Mike before. I used to babysit Mike and his siblings in Chicago before he grew up and became an honorable policemen, like his father. Essentially, he was at a party over the border in Iowa and attacked repeatedly by a drunk who kept following him and taunting him. Finally, Mike defended himself, and the drunk went down with one punch. He was off duty, this guy had provoked him, punched him, threatened him, and followed him after Mike tried to walk away. An Iowa judge would not allow a self defense plea, and said that Mike should never have hit the person attacking him. His duty as a police officer apparently meant that he had to run away from an attack. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the influence of the drunk’s wealthy and connected father. ANYWAY…

People have rallied in the year that Mike has been incarcerated and separated from his family (and NO, you do NOT want to be a cop in prison), from his brothers and sisters in blue to celebrity Dennis Farina, who used to be a Chicago policeman at the Foster city station about six block from where I grew up.

Appeal from the Iowa District Court for Dubuque County, Monica L. Ackley, Judge.  REVERSED AND REMANDED.  Heard by Huitink, P.J., and Vogel and Eisenhauer, JJ.  Opinion by Per Curiam

Michael Mette appeals from his conviction of assault causing bodily injury.  He asserts that the district court erred in rejecting his self defense claim and in finding his victim suffered serious injury.

OPINION HOLDS:  The district court’s finding that Mette had a duty to retreat is not supported by substantial evidence; thus, we conclude the district court erred in rejecting Mette’s defense of justification.  We need not consider Mette’s serious injury argument.  We therefore reverse and remand for entry of judgment of acquittal.

The state now has 20 days to review the decision, not sure what that means.....

Keep the prayers coming that he is home soon…

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 Bad Mood Dude

I’ve just been sealed into my house so the painter can coat the garage walls and rafters with ammonia-based primer, ‘cause ain’t no way that shit’s getting covered any other way. My doors are literally wrapped and taped shut, so I can only go out the front. My car is blocked, so I’m very grateful that this is not my day to pick up the kids.

The best part? Receiving the call yesterday saying that the painter could finally squeeze me in, and had I moved all the stuff in the garage out of the garage? Whahuahfua? Um, no. Will moving some of the things out be okay? Because I am not hauling six industrial shelving units full of accumulated crap onto my delicate slate patio. Also, am not throwing out my back, mmkay?

So of course I needed before pictures so I have something to compare the next few days against. Even if it gets noxious enough in here to knock me flat, and if my appliances are permanently covered with this primer, I’ll at least be happy I don’t have to look at the stained rafters where the rats used to sit, mocking me.

Wednesday, October 01, 2008 Politics

Well, thank God we got that cleared up.

BY JAMES GORDON MEEK
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Tuesday, September 30th 2008, 5:21 PM
WASHINGTON - When Russian bombers approach American airspace and U.S. Air Force fighters are scrambled, Sarah Palin’s phone doesn’t ring.

The Alaska governor has no command authority over the guardians of U.S. airspace despite her recent suggestion otherwise.

“She doesn’t have any role in that process,” Air Force Maj. Allen Herritage, spokesman for the Alaska North American Aerospace Defense Command, told the Daily News.

“The authority to launch and respond to a Russian incursion lies with the Alaska NORAD Region commander” - Air Force Lt. Gen. Dana Atkins, he said.

Palin said last week that her foreign policy experience includes facing the Russians.

“It’s very important when you consider even national security issues with Russia, as Putin rears his head and comes into the airspace of the United States of America - where do they go? It’s Alaska,” Palin told CBS’ Katie Couric.

“It is from Alaska that we send those out to make sure that an eye is being kept on this very powerful nation,” she said.

Moscow’s bombers have skirted Alaskan airspace 20 times, thugh they have not violated it, during Palin’s governorship, officials said.

When F-15 and F-22 interceptors scrambled from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage in response, John McCain’s running mate was not speed-dialed with the news.

“The commander does not call the governor,” Herritage said.

Monday, September 29, 2008 Family

From the back yard, I heard my ten-year-old say to my six-year-old, “And that is how you do the hammer throw in the Olympics.”

I paused before asking, “Do I want to see this hammer throw?”

Logan replied, “It’s not really a hammer throw; it’s The Death Throw.”

“Okay, I’m going to go back to reading, mmmkay?”

See? No heart attack.

And then, “Mom! I threw the tennis ball into the other yard!” All three children were thirteen feet up in the air, sitting on top of the fort.

“Too bad, hon, you’ve lost it.”

“Wait! There’s our neighbor! Hey, we threw a tether ball over there!”

“You threw a tether ball over the fence? The one with no air in it?” The neighbor has a pool, and a dog. A young dog. A coon dog.

I climbed up with them and called to my neighbor, “Don’t go to too much trouble getting that back from the dog. They threw it over there, let Jake have his turn with it.”

I went back inside, and three minutes later, my daughter ran in shouting, “Mama! They’re smashing the blue plastic bin to pieces—”

“Stop! I don’t need to hear it. It will make my frown lines deepen. Just pick everything up and come to dinner. And NO, I don’t want to hear who did it, I just want… come inside, okay?” I put out fish sticks for them and a glass of wine for me.

And now, it’s forty minutes to bedtime.