Day 1124: Miles to Go and Low Expectations
Had little to no court this week. Spent most of my time on the road running around to meetings and home visits. Luckily for me on really long car drives I got to use the state car, and I have figured out how to rig the radio so I can get the GPS voice to speak to me but still get to listen to my music. (I might have been bad and loaded some music onto my work phone so if my personal phone bites the dust I am not stranded anywhere without tunes. Tunes are important.) I got to meet with some cute kids, see some interesting homes, hold cute babies, and move some of my kids toward adoption, which will be really wonderful for them.
I hung out with some of my Relief Society sisters one night and learned all about sprouting. I already like bean sprouts. Turns out there are all kinds of things a girl can sprout to make a healthy, tasty salad. I can cut down on my vegetable bill and have us eat healthier. I just need to get the contraption all set up and get my growing on. The lady who taught the class included some samples at the end, and she had these delicious honey and peanut butter treats made of wheat sprouts. They were covered in dried coconut flakes. I need to learn how to make those. I bet those would convert my husband.
At the office we played some pranks on a coworker. We invaded his office and took pictures of ourselves "raiding" his snack cupboard and also playing with his laptop and iPad. That's what happens when someone has the temerity to go on vacation. As silly as it was, it was really good to be able to laugh and have a light-hearted day. I even made it home at a decent time on a few nights and got to kick back with the dogs while I answered the last emails of the day. Next week is going to be some super long days, so this week I had a chance to chill out.
On Friday I was pretty upset to discover My Little Pony porn. A therapist emailed me that one of my kids recently reunited with his family after finishing treatment hasn't been doing super well. Apart from engaging in some minor delinquency (smoking underage) there were concerns about him viewing My Little Pony. I know some cartoons can have some innuendoes in them to keep the parents from going insane, and I wasn't sure how inappropriate My Little Pony would be for a kid finishing his kind of treatment, so I contacted some Bronies I know, and the verdict was, on a scale of Shrek to South Park, MLP is only about as innuendo-laden as a Looney Tunes episode. I mentioned this to the therapist, who then described the contents of the MLP episode the kid was caught watching, and given the explicit and sexual nature of the cartoon, I was pretty sure that wasnt' an actual MLP cartoon. So my coworkers and I hit up the internet and out that there is MLP porn. Rule 34.
Public service announcement: if your teenage boy is watching an innocent child cartoon and it isn't on a legal streaming site like Netflix or the website for the channel on which the show regularly airs, it's probably actually porn. I know most people think porn is unobjectionable, but given the number of sexual abuses cases I deal with, nope, kids shouldn't be watching it.
Cody's mom came down late Friday night to hang out with us for the weekend. We ran some errands together on Saturday morning and then Saturday night Cody and I went to a concert. The headliners were OneRepublic but I am a bigger fan of the Script. Traffic there was a nightmare so we missed the opening act and the first couple of songs by The Script. They were a fun, solid band and were great live - tight vocal harmonies, fun stage presence.
I like OneRepublic's songs and had heard they put on a good live show, but I wasn't expecting much. Given how little I expected, I was blown away. The first song was done with the band behind a white sheet and all we could see was their shadows. They came out of the gate no holds barred and I learned that their bassist and lead guitarist are the masters behind the awesome string section in Secrets.
For a band that plays really pop-y songs, those guys displayed a really impressive level of musicianship. Cody was really not that enthusiastic about the concert but even he was impressed. There was an epic acoustic guitar solo, really awesome work on the piano, and a lovely cover of "What a Wonderful World". I ended up having a really great time at the concert. There was a beautiful song the lead singer wrote about his wife, and also a really sweet song about his grandfather who was a preacher.
Cody and I had fun conversations while stuck in traffic. Between sets we read Devil in the White City.
Now Cody's mom is cutting his hair. I'd be watching except Dingo escaped from the chain yet again. Not sure how, except his harness is now broken.
I hung out with some of my Relief Society sisters one night and learned all about sprouting. I already like bean sprouts. Turns out there are all kinds of things a girl can sprout to make a healthy, tasty salad. I can cut down on my vegetable bill and have us eat healthier. I just need to get the contraption all set up and get my growing on. The lady who taught the class included some samples at the end, and she had these delicious honey and peanut butter treats made of wheat sprouts. They were covered in dried coconut flakes. I need to learn how to make those. I bet those would convert my husband.
At the office we played some pranks on a coworker. We invaded his office and took pictures of ourselves "raiding" his snack cupboard and also playing with his laptop and iPad. That's what happens when someone has the temerity to go on vacation. As silly as it was, it was really good to be able to laugh and have a light-hearted day. I even made it home at a decent time on a few nights and got to kick back with the dogs while I answered the last emails of the day. Next week is going to be some super long days, so this week I had a chance to chill out.
On Friday I was pretty upset to discover My Little Pony porn. A therapist emailed me that one of my kids recently reunited with his family after finishing treatment hasn't been doing super well. Apart from engaging in some minor delinquency (smoking underage) there were concerns about him viewing My Little Pony. I know some cartoons can have some innuendoes in them to keep the parents from going insane, and I wasn't sure how inappropriate My Little Pony would be for a kid finishing his kind of treatment, so I contacted some Bronies I know, and the verdict was, on a scale of Shrek to South Park, MLP is only about as innuendo-laden as a Looney Tunes episode. I mentioned this to the therapist, who then described the contents of the MLP episode the kid was caught watching, and given the explicit and sexual nature of the cartoon, I was pretty sure that wasnt' an actual MLP cartoon. So my coworkers and I hit up the internet and out that there is MLP porn. Rule 34.
Public service announcement: if your teenage boy is watching an innocent child cartoon and it isn't on a legal streaming site like Netflix or the website for the channel on which the show regularly airs, it's probably actually porn. I know most people think porn is unobjectionable, but given the number of sexual abuses cases I deal with, nope, kids shouldn't be watching it.
Cody's mom came down late Friday night to hang out with us for the weekend. We ran some errands together on Saturday morning and then Saturday night Cody and I went to a concert. The headliners were OneRepublic but I am a bigger fan of the Script. Traffic there was a nightmare so we missed the opening act and the first couple of songs by The Script. They were a fun, solid band and were great live - tight vocal harmonies, fun stage presence.
I like OneRepublic's songs and had heard they put on a good live show, but I wasn't expecting much. Given how little I expected, I was blown away. The first song was done with the band behind a white sheet and all we could see was their shadows. They came out of the gate no holds barred and I learned that their bassist and lead guitarist are the masters behind the awesome string section in Secrets.
For a band that plays really pop-y songs, those guys displayed a really impressive level of musicianship. Cody was really not that enthusiastic about the concert but even he was impressed. There was an epic acoustic guitar solo, really awesome work on the piano, and a lovely cover of "What a Wonderful World". I ended up having a really great time at the concert. There was a beautiful song the lead singer wrote about his wife, and also a really sweet song about his grandfather who was a preacher.
Cody and I had fun conversations while stuck in traffic. Between sets we read Devil in the White City.
Now Cody's mom is cutting his hair. I'd be watching except Dingo escaped from the chain yet again. Not sure how, except his harness is now broken.