My Phone

Last August it was time for an upgrade on my cell phone. I had a Palm Treo then and was having major issues with it. The operating system was not working right at all and it would just turn off with out me knowing it and was very, very slow. So I went to the Sprint store and got me a Blackberry. I ordered black one but they sent me an orange one by mistake. So I kept it. I was amazed at what all it could do...especially the email capability.

(Image from Google)

Well once again its August again and I have the chance to upgrade my phone. Normally I dont upgrade every year but for the last 4-5 months I have been having problems with my Blackberry. It freezes up alot especially if I am texting or checking my email and then I happen to get a phone call. When I go to answer it it freezes up so I miss the phone call and I lose the message. The only way to get out of it is to take the battery completely out and then reboot it. What sucks about Blackberry's is that it takes forever for it to start up! So I decided to get another phone when I was eligible. Once again I got on Sprint back in July and decided to find a new phone. I decided on the HTC Evo because it had some pretty good reviews and its alot like the Iphone.

(Image from Google)

On August 1st I was eligible for an upgrade. So I went to Sprint and tried to order the phone. They were sold out online but said to check with my local Sprint Store. They were sold out there too! So is Best Buy too! I didnt realize how popular this phone is! I got online to research it and they are saying this phone is selling faster than the Iphone. Now I am just eager to get my phone! I wonder how long it will be before I get a new phone...

What kind of phone do you have???

Behavior Chart

Last year at the beginning of the school year Kaylyn had a great year! No notes...always got smiley faces sent home. Then after the "new" wore off the notes started coming home. They were mainly and I quote "excessive talking." I knew that would be a big problem with her. Poor thing just likes to talk. I mean it kills her not to talk.

I put her in time out one time and told her to sit there and each time you talk I will add a minute on to your time. Needless to say she was able to get up after about 33 mins! Its in her blood! She is just like my mother who never shuts up!

So after last year I prayed that she would calm down a little and not be as talkative at school. I was a little shocked at "Meet the Teacher" day because she hardly said anything and she was so excited! She didnt talk that much at all. Every day a folder comes home for the parent to check. In it is a behavior chart that has each day of the school year (Mon-Fri) broken down into weeks until the Christmas Holidays. If she is good she gets a sticker. If not she gets a number...there is a number key at the bottom. For example its says 1)Talking at inappropriate time 2) playing during class time 3) trouble keeping hands to self 4) being disrespectful 5) inappropriate behavior in the classroom, lunchroom or hallway 6) not following directions 7) not finishing classwork in allotted time and 8) excessive tattling.

Last Wednesday Kaylyn got her first "note" or number sent home in her folder. She got a "6" which is not following directions. Of course I was a little disappointed but I knew it was coming. So of course we sat her down and had a talk with her. She made it until yesterday...she got another "6."

I am not sure what to do discipline wise because time out has never worked with her and lets face it...neither does spanking. I am not a big fan of that but it was a last resort last year and it didnt work. Now we are up to bribing her which personally I dont like but we will see how it works.

On a lighter note that when Kevin left for work tonight I told him about her note. He just smiled and said it least she wasnt talking too much...

The Big C

As mentioned in my first post on my new blog...I am going to talk about anything and everything on here! Part of that is what interest me.

For months now I have been seeing the previews for the new show "The Big C." Watching these previews got me interested in the show. Finally last Monday night the show came on. I ended up DVR'ing it because I went to bed early that night and then I got so busy throughout the week that I didnt get to watch it until last night. I really liked it. Its only 30 mins but there were no commercials (love that).

Its about a woman that is diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and she weighs her options of treatment of what to do. During the first show she still hadnt told her family yet. She is keeping this secret while going through family drama with her husband and teenage son. Not to mention having issues with her neighbor. I really enjoyed the show and I cant wait to see the next episode which comes on tonight on Showtime.

Have any of you seen this show? If not was is one of your new/favorite shows?

Alicia

First Day of 1st Grade

Yes, I am a little late but here are some pictures we took of Kaylyn on her first day! She started school last Thursday Aug. 12.






She had a blast her first day. Lets home this last!

The Shred

Since Kaylyn is going back to school and hopefully I will return to some type of semi schedule I want to start exercising more. My plan is to go walk everyday at the park after I drop her off to school. That is my goal...however right off the bat I have to work 2 days next week during the day plus my 40 hrs over the weekend at night. But I am not going to let that derail my plans. I also am starting Jillian Micheals 30-Day Shred.

I actually started it last night. I will say right off the bat it kicked my butt. I only got through about 15 mins of it before I got light headed. I was happy to get as far as I did. I am going to try and continue it at least 5 days a week. I know that 7 is going to be hard with my job. I did a week or so of The Shred several months back but ended up pulling a muscle so I stopped...and never started back. I just hope to actually finish it this time.

So Day 1 went fairly good with the exception of not actually finishing the whole Session. My goal is to finish it tomorrow. I will try to update as much as possible!

Miss U Part 2

Well Miss "U" finally hit the last nerve. I know that she is mentally handicap in some way but I am not sure to what extent. I mentioned in my previous post that Miss "U" calls the police station all the time for non sense reasons. Most just to talk...in hopes of we can actually understand what she is saying.

We found out a couple of weeks ago that her sister has been in the hospital. With her sister gone she obviously has no one to talk to. So one night she just kept calling the station and of course we would send an officer out to her to make sure she was ok. She got mad because we kept sending someone out there (just doing our job!) so she then started dialing 9-1-1 and asking them for a coke. Yup she dialed them and asked them to bring her a coke. Rescue was dispatched out there just to make sure she was ok and again she got mad. She then walked up to the station and ended up causing a huge scene in the lobby and had to be escorted out by an officer. She left only to return within the hour. Yelling and screaming she was escorted out again. She left again only to return again. She came into the lobby and ended up banging on one of the doors to get into the back office (takes a special code so only employees can go beyond that point) and then started banging on the lobby window which divides our office and the lobby.

There were several people in the lobby witnessing this behavior so one of the officers made the decision to arrest her for disorderly contact. I mean she was given three chances and blew them all. Sadly she was arrested and placed in jail. I really felt bad for her but what else could we do? Dealing with her issues happen almost everyday. I know that she is "special" but enough is enough.

Later that week she was admitted into a psychiatric hospital where she has been ever since. She was deemed unfit to take care of herself and her sister. Hopefully in this hospital she will get the attention and help that she needs. I must say that since she has been in the hospital our call volume has dropped by at least 50%...I am not joking!

Ironically the other day Miss "U" snuck a phone into her bedroom. Who do you think she called? Yup, she called us the other day! We only received about 3 calls from her before they realized she had the phone!

Meet The Teacher

Yesterday was "Meet The Teacher" day at Kaylyn's school. She was very excited as well as was I. I know that Kaylyn is a very talkative child and I have been praying for a teacher that understands that. She really doesnt have issues other than talking.

I dont see her as hyperactive or anything like that...just very talkative. Last year her Kindergarten teacher mentioned possibly putting her on medication. I dont have any thing against that but at this time I dont believe its for Kaylyn. She has no problems doing her work and doesnt have behavioral issues. She always gets her work done and most of the time before the other students. My opinion is that she is just gets bored and has to talk. So my hopes was a teacher that understands that.

So yesterday at 2pm we went to her school and met her teacher. Her name is Ms. Clark and she seems really nice. A little quiet but seems very nice. To my surprise Kaylyn didnt talk that much so I am hoping that she "matured" a little over the summer. There are 20 students in her class and this looks to be her 3rd year of teaching.

While there we delivered all of her school supplies so that she doesnt have to take them all on the first day of school which is this Thursday. After putting most of her stuff away I sat down at Kaylyn's desk and filled out the usually classroom paperwork. I signed up to be a room mom or at least help out. Not really sure if I was "all" of that responsibility but I went ahead and signed up. I want to be very active in her school so to me that is a start.

Kaylyn seemed very pleased with Ms. Clark so we will see how it goes. I know that Kaylyn is very excited and has literally been counting down the days until school starts. Mommy has secretly been doing that too!

I will post some pics on Thursday of her first day of school! Hope everyone has a great week!

Alicia

A Little Bit About Miss U

So I told you that part of my new blog would include alot about my job as well. Of course I have alot to tell you! First of all I will never give actual names to protect myself as well as who I may be blogging about.

So here is a little about Miss U. Miss U is an elderly old lady that calls and comes and visits the police station often. I have reason to believe that Miss U has a mental condition. When you talk to her you know that she isnt all the way there. I dont mean that mean in any way. However, she lives with her elderly sister who seems to be really sick. Apparently Miss U has memorized the police stations phone number and calls it often. When I say often I mean at least 40-50 times a day. No, I am not kidding. She will call just to talk at all hours of the day. On my shift she normally starts calling around 7 or 8 pm and slacks off around 9pm. Between those hours we normally get about 20-25 calls from her. Apparently sometime after 10 she goes to sleep or does something because she doesnt start calling again until about 3:30 am. Depending on the day and weather she will continue to call till about 8 or 9am. Again we receive about 20-25 calls during the morning hours. Then this cycle repeats itself every day.

On mornings where its nice and I mean no rain she will walk to the police station. She lives about a mile away and has no problem walking to the station. When she comes in she asks us to "grade her paper." With this she always brings in some type of paper or brochure where she has written different things on it. Most of the time its stuff that is copied right out of a magazine or a commercial and its normally some type of medical disclaimer. Its usually says something along of the lines of "if you take this drug possible side effects are irritable stomach, diarrhea, headache and so on." Like I said she literally copies it right out of the magazine. We HAVE to put an A + and a sticker on her paper or she will freak out. When I say freak out she will get all loud and demanding (and has cried before) until we put that on her paper.

We have to deal with her on a daily basis. I feel really bad for her because she is so old and she really doesnt have someone to talk to but when she does call us its all nonsense stuff. Sometimes its even hard to tell when she really needs something. There have been several times where we have had to dispatch an officer out to her because we dont know what shes talking about so we want to make sure she is ok. Plus her sister is very sick and has several medical conditions. I know she has heart problems and is diabetic. They are both older I would say in their late 70's maybe early 80's.

So this is a little about Miss U. I have some other stories about her so stay tuned...

Quick Trip To Atlanta

Jason has been with us all summer. His school starts in about 2 weeks and he wanted to go on home. So since Kevin had to work this weekend we decided to take him home today. I was hoping for a quick trip...but that really didnt happen.

We left around 11 this morning. We made pretty good timing most of the way over there. Then we hit 285 and it started raining. This reminded me of why I will NOT live in Atlanta. Nobody knows how to drive and there were several accidents. None of them looked serious but of course it slowed traffic down...to a dead stop. Where it normally would take us about 30 mins on 285 to get to Jason's house it took us about an hour and a half.

We finally got there and unloaded all of his stuff that he accrued over the summer. Him and his dad gave each other bye hugs and of course the "be good in school" lecture and then we were on our way. Again it took us over an hour to get back to I-20. We ended up stopping in Douglasville to eat. We grabbed a quick bite and then got back on the road. I really wanted to be back in Alabama before rush hour. We hit a little more traffic but for the most part of the return trip it wasnt too bad until we actually hit Birmingham. However, since I worked in Birmingham for years I am use to the traffic and its much more tolerable than Atlanta traffic!

We finally got back to my inlaws to pick up Kaylyn and ended up getting her out of the pool which she had pretty much been in all day. She looked pretty tired so we came on home and ate supper and gave her a good bath. I thought she would go to sleep pretty soon but nope I had to make her go to bed. I know that as soon as she slowed down it hit her because it didnt take long for her to fall asleep! So after spending 6 hours in the car today I am off to bed too!

New Blog

Hello Everyone! I am working on moving all of my posts to this new blog. I changed the URL on my last blog and everything went crazy so I decided to start fresh. A new start...a new blog! I am tired of trying to keep up with a blog for my little girl, a blog about my weight, a blog about my life so here it is...all in one. My life, my job, my thoughts, my daughter...everything in this new blog.

So for an introduction...

My name is Alicia and I live in Birmingham, AL. I am happily married and have been for 7 years now. We have a 6 year old daughter Kaylyn and hope to have another child one day. I work as a Full Time Police Department Dispatcher and I love my job. Sure its intense and it does have its moments but its what I do.

So...like I said, here on my blog I will talk about anything and everything. So wont you join me!

Alicia