Julie's Journal

I was out at Kohl’s tonight buying Justin some dress pants for his Orchestra Holiday Concert tomorrow night and I got a frantic call from J.R. to come home NOW! I dropped what I was doing and went home.

Justin and his friend got busted “ding dong ditching” and the guy that lives in the house chased them all the way home to our house. He was screaming at J.R. and cussing out Justin and his friend Bobby. He had left by the time I got here, and Bobby went home.

Robert, Bobby’s dad, called me and said that Bobby had a bloody knee and a bruise on his face. Apparently the guy caught Bobby and pushed him to the ground. Robert was pissed and asked if it was okay if he came over and called the police. Justin was BAWLING and freaking out saying, “Mom, I asked him to not hurt my friend, and he wouldn’t listen,” so I told Robert yes.

He came over and the cop came. He listened to the boyz story, and then drove down the street to talk to the guy. The guy turns out to be security at Green Valley Ranch Casino and denies that he pushed Bobby to the ground. He said he grabbed Bobby by the hoodie and he lost his footing and fell down. When the boyz heard this they started crying again and telling the cop the guy was lying.

The cop was totally for the security guard for obvious reasons as they work together on a nightly basis helping each other get the trouble makers out of the casino. He told the boyz that they could be arrested and thrown in jail for harassment! Bobby’s dad didn’t push the subject and said okay, just forget it, then and left. I thanked the cop for coming out, blah blah blah, and talked to Justin.

I wanted to tell him the cop was a fucking asshole (not for just tonight, but for all the nights I called them when Johnny was threatening to kill me, and they told me, “until he kills you there is nothing they can do”) but I didn’t mention any of that and just talked to him about ding dong ditching, etc. He and his friend won’t be doing THAT anymore.

The cops out here really can be assholes. We did the right thing by calling them, but the next time maybe we won’t since they don’t do anything for you. Maybe I’ll just go down there and beat the shit out of the guy. Not really, but DAMNIT!!!!!!!!! How can you be an adult, push an 11 yr old to the ground, and get away with it?

Well maybe tonight he got away with it, but I was a kid once and I remember the assholes on 36th Street where I grew up! They were the target of eggs, toilet paper, and pumpkin smashing. My kid won’t be doing it, but I know for a fact the story will get around at the Junior High School.

Call me immature, but that makes me just giggle inside…thinking about the neighbor guy wash egg off his car, picking up smashed pumpkin off his lawn, and yanking down toilet paper from every tree in his yard.

I work the traditional 8 hours a day, 40 hours a week, 2080 hours a year. Of those 2080 hours I am mandated by the Federal Government to take 260 hours of break time. I choose to take those breaks smoking a cigarette. Some choose to use it making phone calls. Some choose to use it by chit chatting with co-workers, and some choose to use it by eating. Regardless of your choice, it’s still YOUR choice. Or is it?

According to Scotts Miracle-Gro the way you choose to spend your break time could get you fired.

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C

Jim Hagedorn the Chairman and CEO of Scotts Miracle-Gro has taken the At Will Employment jurisdiction to the extreme. They have given their employees 10 months (October 2006) to quit smoking, or get fired. Of course they are doing it in the most politically correct way by paying for smoking cessation therapy, classes, and medications for all employees who are bullied into quitting smoking, or lose their jobs.

They base their logic on the ever growing cost of providing their employees with health insurance. Smokers are just not healthy, so they cost more.

23% of Americans are obese.
20% of Americans smoke.

Their logic fails to mention the box of doughnuts that are brought into the office every morning. It fails to mention those company pot lucks where you bring your favorite high fat content dish. It fails to mention the candy and soda machine that is pumped full of spare change all day long, and it fails to mention that every single holiday is an excuse to bring in tons of cookies, cakes, pies, and candy to share with the entire office.

Should the obese people in your office be fired if they don’t lose weight in 10 months? After all isn’t obesity a serious health risks? Isn’t it costing your company more in health coverage for their medical care just as it is for a smoker?

If this blatant discrimination is allowed to be okay then where does it end? If you’re a parent, statistics show you miss more work than your co workers who have no children do. Statistics show if you’re a woman you miss more work. Your age determines how many days you miss work a year. The further you live from your job can make you miss more work than your co worker who lives a couple miles.

The bottom line is how much you cost your company, and for them to determine that smokers cost them more money is ludicrous. If this is allowed to happen then be prepared to change every aspect of your unhealthy behavior within 10 months or get to know your Unemployment Claims Representative better over a cigarette and a doughnut.

I saw this at LaLaGirl – Twinfinite Chaos!

Welcome to the 2005 Holiday Edition of Getting to Know Your Friends!

1. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?… Hot chocolate please! Egg Nog is just wrong…even with rum.

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree?… Santa use to assemble them and leave them under the tree. Now that the gifts are tiny and cost $390374789234 more they get wrapped.

3. Colored lights on tree/house or white?… I like both. We have white icicle lights on the house, and colored ones on the tree. There is no light racism here

4. Do you hang mistletoe?… No, I think it’s poisonous to animals right?

5. When do you put your decorations up?… Usually about a week or two after Thanksgiving. They come down the day after Christmas!

6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?… I guess the turkey. We have basically the same thing as Thanksgiving.

7. Favorite Holiday memory as a child?… Waking up to a warm house, and having fresh snow on the ground.

8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?… When I found presents in my parents closet, then the same ones appeared under the tree from “Santa.”

9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve?… Only if the boyz talk me into it.

10. What kind of cookies does Santa get set out for him?… No cookies, he likes chips and salsa.

11. Snow! Love it or Dread it?… Love to see it, but wouldn’t want to live and work in it.

12. Can you ice skate?… Yes, and quite well actually.

13. Do you remember your favorite gift?… My white Adidas from the boyz about 9 years ago. I still wear them!

14. What�s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?… Seeing the boyz get excited.

15. What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?… Gingerbread Men, and those sugar drop cookies with all the sprinkles on top.

16. What is your favorite holiday tradition?… We don’t really have one now, but we use to drive around and look at all the houses lit up at night.

17. What tops your tree?… An angel with a mauve dress. I bought it in the height of the “Mauve is the Color Year” and I still use it every year.

18. Which do you prefer Giving or Receiving?… BOTH!

19. What is your favorite Christmas Carol?… Frosty the Snowman! Is that considered a “Carol?”

20. Candy Canes! Yuck or Yum?… Yuck!

Now you!

I’ve been busy with work. With a raise and a promotion it brings on grip loads of more work to do. I’m not complaining, I really love my job.

I haven’t done any Christmas shopping except for the one gift I bought a friend while grocery shopping. It screamed his name, so I had to get it.

I’ve had the Bird Flu, Sars, West Nile Virus, and the HIV for a week now and my nose is just totally raw from blowing it a Brazilian times.

Zappos.com had their “First $2 Million Sales in One Day Party” last night and we had a really good time. Free food and free drinks. I ate and drank myself silly. It probably wasn’t good for my infected body, but it was worth it.

Tomorrow night is my companies Christmas Party. We had the choice between Chicken Marsala and Prime Rib. We both choose the cow. I’ll probably get Mad Cow also to add to my list of illnesses.

We just picked up our carry-out Pei Wei and we are going to eat in bed and watch Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

Have a great weekend!

I know there are a lot of cat lovers out there and I need your opinions. I wondered what would be best to get, a male, or a female baby kitty, when you already have another cat in the house.

Justin’s friend’s cat is pregnant and he gets the first pick of the babies. We have just one cat now. She will be 4 in April of next year. I of course want the cats to get along, and I don’t want Dizzy to freak out.

Is there a “rule-of-thumb” when adding another cat to the mix?