Have a Happy New Year, but be safe!

Happy New Year Everyone! Some of you may know that I work at a probation office that specializes in supervising offenders with DWI convictions, so I feel it is my duty to warn everyone of the potential consequences of your actions this weekend. This is the process if you get arrested for DWI in St. Charles County Missouri, other jurisdictions may be more or less stringent, but this is a typical scenario:
A typical offender gets pulled over for speeding or improper lane usage, which is just a fancy way of saying that your car touched one of the lines on the road at some point (yes that it all it takes for an officer to stop you). You will then be given a series of field sobriety tests which also vary and then be asked to submit to a BAC test to measure your blood alcohol content, if you refuse you will automatically lose your license for a year and probably be charged with DWI anyway. If you blow over a .08 you will be arrested, booked, fingerprinted, etc. You must then obtain an attorney to represent you when you go to court (typical rate $1,000-$2,000) Once you plead guilty (which you will) you will be placed on probation with an agency like mine and ordered to pay a minimum $420 probation fee. You will also be ordered to take a state mandated Substance Abuse program the price of which ranges from $345- $1000 depending on the level of treatment required. You also will have to pay a recoupment fee to the law enforcement agency that arrested you (typically $100). You would also have to attend a Victim Impact Panel put on by MADD and sit through countless tragic drunk driving stories. Additionally, you will lose your license (typically for 90 days unless refused BAC), you will also have to obtain SR-22 insurance and pay higher insurance premiums for many years. Also keep in mind that if you are involved in an accident and/or injure someone else's person or property additional restitution will be ordered.
So the recap:
At least $3000 in fines, fees, premiums, etc.
The stigma associated with being on probation and having an arrest record. Probation, loss of license, and/ or insurance requirements may also affect current or future employment opportunities.
A second offense has even more conditions and cost more money!
So please, please, please don't drink and drive-- it is NOT worth it! I don't care if the cab ride home costs $1000 it is still cheaper then getting a DWI and I have plenty of clients as is it, I really don't not need anymore!
Again, have a safe and happy new year!

Merry Christmas to All!

I hope everyone a very Merry Christmas! Ours got off to a rough start, but all ended up working out well. For starters, Brian's dad Kenny, had a mild heart attack on Weds. and had to get three stints put in on Thursday. They released him from the hospital Fri. afternoon, but then he had more chest pains and had to be rushed right back Fri. night. They gave him some more meds and let him go again Sunday morning (X-mas eve). He is doing fine now and participated in Christmas festivities despite the whole ordeal. The bright side to all this is that he gets a few weeks off work and considering he works at Sears, this the best time of year not have to report to the mall everyday.
On top of all this, our heater went out Friday night and of course it was X-mas weekend, so the chances of finding a reasonably priced repairman two days before x-mas was slim to none. Luckily, we have a fire place and a baseboard heater and it hasn't been ridiculously cold so we made it through with fairly little discomfort. Also, the kids got Brian a heated mattress pad for x-mas this year, so I had told them if they helped me around the house on Sat. I would let them open one present after dinner. Since I knew what Brian's present was, I told them they could give us ours early too, so Brian and I had a nice warm bed to sleep in thanks to the kiddos! The repairman is here now so hopefully we will have heat again within the hour, yippee!
Our dog Dixie was also sick over the weekend, she started acting funny on Friday when she didn't want to come in and then she wasn't eating or being social. But again, its x-mas weekend and vets are hard to come by so we just kept an eye on her and by Monday she was starting to get back to normal. I still don't know what was wrong with her but she seems better now so I guess it passed.
We went to my moms on X-mas eve and to Kenny's family on X-mas day. It was nice to see everyone together and we got caught up on all the family gossip. Alena loves all her new babies she got for x-mas. She feeds them and rocks them and actually plays pretend, it is so cute! The boys got lots of new games which we plan on playing while they are on winter break this week. Since Brenda is in California, we still have x-mas to do with her after the new year. We also have our x-mas/new years get together with all our friends and then another x-mas function later on in January with Brenda's extended side of the family. So we still have 3 Christmases to go, I swear it never ends! As soon as we are done with all the Christmases, it will be Brian's 30 b-day on Feb. 8!Thanks to everyone for making this a great Christmas and we hope everyone has a safe and happy new year!

SANTA! NO WAY!

About a week or two ago I was out X-mas shopping and needed to go to the mall anyway, so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity to take Alena to see Santa since it was the middle of a weekday. We get to Santa's little house in the middle of the mall at 1:10 and of course Santa is at lunch from 1-2. So we did our shopping, grabbed some lunch, and got in line again at 1:45 and there were already about 8-10 people ahead of us. The whole time we were in line Alena was talking about Santa and all the lights, etc. When we were finally next to see Santa (approx. 2:20), Alena watched the kids in front of us go sit on Santa's lap, but when I told her it was her turn to go see Santa she grabbed my leg and said "No Way" (which was a popular phrase with her that particular week). I did my best to convince her, we waved at Santa and I sat on Santa's lap. I tried to get her to sit on the box next to Santa, but it was to no avail. Luckily, I didn't get her all dressed up for the occasion, although she did have a cute little long sleeved tee shirt with a sparkly Santa hat on it that read "Grandma and Santa have my list covered." So I will have no cute pictures of Alena and Santa this year, oh well. I know I could have put her on him anyway and got a picture of her screaming on him, which is also kinda cute, but I didn't want to force her to do it and scare her from Santa forever. I also didn't want to pay $20 for a picture of her crying. I guess we will try again next year!

The True Spirit of the Season

Okay I know I'm a nerd, but one of my favorite shows is Frontline on PBS. About a month ago, the show discussed the concept of microlending in developing countries and it made so much sense that I haven't been able to get it out of my head since. For those who are not familiar with these types of programs, organizations like Kiva, allow people like you and me to lend money to small business owners throughout the world to help people out of poverty. Most banks will not loan money to individuals that do not have collateral or a down payment, microlending does not have such requirements, so it gives opportunities to people who have very little. They have a 100% repayment rate with the average loan being repaid in about 1 year (and even if you don't get repaid, its a tax write off). Paypal waives its fees, so loans can be transferred and repaid through paypal, it's great! You can go to the web site and read about the different people and their business and pick one or more to support, average loan requests are between $500-1000, but some are a small as $100 and you can lend as little as $25. It is truly astonishing how far a few American dollars can go in some of these countries. Once you lend the money you get updates on the status of the business owner and follow their success stories. I chose to lend $50 to a woman named Santa de Jesus Antunez Motiño (Santa & Jesus in the same name, it seemed like a sign of the season--haha!). Santa lives in Honduras and wants a loan to expand the grocery store she has been running for the past 5 years. Many of these recipients not only better their own lives, but also the lives of their children and any employees and their families that may be hired. Entire communities and economies can be changed by one successful small businesss. Kiva believes "this is one of the best ways to empower our neighbors, and give them opportunities to become economically independent, improve their standard of living, and alleviate poverty for themselves and their communities." I will keep everyone updated about Santa's progress, but I would also like to encourage everyone to try to give a little back. We all seem to get wrapped up in the commercialization of Christmas, but programs like this really do represent the true spirit of the season. I know many business adopt families during this time of year, which is also a wonderful program, but in the spring and summer encourage your company to adopt an entrepreneur and raise funds to sponsor one of Kiva's business owners. I can't wait to see Santa's business grow and it makes me feel really good knowing I had a hand in helping someone out of poverty. Good Luck, Santa!

I've missed you world!

As most of you know our area was hit with a major ice/snow storm on Thursday. Since we live kinda far from town I knew we wouldn't be going any where for a couple days and accepted that. What I wasn't prepared for was the loss of the Internet. I don't know how, but the storm must have knocked out my DSL lines or something, because I have been without the Internet for over four days! It finally started again today (Mon.), so please forgive me if I haven't blogged, myspaced, or returned emails for awhile. Other than that we weathered the storm just fine. The boys have been off school since Thurs., and have enjoyed playing in the snow every day since. We didn't get to go out for their b-day, but we celebrated here and they got lots of fun stuff, some great clothes, and a mini vacation over their b-day weekend, so it worked out fine. Hopefully, it will be back to school and work tomorrow and things will be back normal. Is winter over yet? Oh yeah, it hasn't even officially started!