Friday, February 29, 2008

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Shhh, It's Our Little Secret...

My sisters are coming to town in a few weeks. We have a little secret...



We're each going to get our noses pierced. Not big, ugly, gaudy, things. Just dainty, pretty little things - like this...



Mom doesn't want us to. She thinks we'll be scarred for life. She thinks we're gonna look like this...



But evidently, SOMEBODY has a



So now mom looks like this...

SO READY FOR SPRING...




So in preparation for the warm weather that we know MUST be just around the corner, Ival built us a new pool yesterday. In fact, if you want to have a pool party at your house, let us know, we'll be right over with it! Can you believe he did this all himself? Yea, I got me a good one...


Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Happy Birthday Linda!

I made this cake special for you. It took me forever!


Wednesday, February 13, 2008

You're Never Gonna Believe This...



I'm going to start working for a Private Investigation Agency! I can hardly believe it myself! You know how nosey I've always been. Well, I'm going to try and make this story short.

The other night I was watching one of my shows on Tru TV (used to be Court tv) that Ival's not too fond of. He finally stood up and said "I can't believe you watch this blood and guts stuff. You should have been a detective." Well, I've always said that. I would have been a great detective! Anyway, it was 9:30 at night and I thought "I'm ready to do something for me!" So, I got online and started looking for private investigation firms in Boise. The first couple I looked at were owned by retired LAPD officers but the third one was a couple of ladies known as the Spy Moms. This isn't their actual website, but it's what I was obviously meant to find.

http://vocationvacations.com/DreamJobHolidays/hanady-investigations.php

So, for some reason, I shot them off an email and told them a little bit about myself and how interested I've always been in this type of work. By 7:30 the next morning, I had an email from Val.

Hi Jodi,
We get so many requests for investigators that we have a standard email we send explaining we have no positions available. But your email was special for a bunch of reasons. I hope we get a chance sometime to share some of our connections/coincidences in person. We have learned not to ignore "coincidences" that come our way.

Being an independent contractor is a spotty job, on and off, busy then not, late night or early morning. Tell me if you feel your meet our minimum requirements for an independent contractor:
**Your children are old enough to stay alone. But our policy is family first when necessary!! My kids are grown but Mollie still has a 13 year old daughter in middle school.
**You have an available and flexible time schedule (do you have a full or part time job?).
**You have a vehicle you could use for surveillance.
**You can financially afford a part time job that may have significant periods when you do not have assignments.
**You would need training and experience in the beginning where you don't get paid at all.

We have only two independent contractors that work for us and they are super. But our hope is to turn over more assignments to the contractors rather than doing it ourselves. Congrats on the BC survivor status, sister. I am currently being treated for lung, liver and bone mets from my third battle with BC. Mollie has a disabling autoimmune disease that she doesn't let get to her often but when she is down, she really down for the count. So you can see that both of us need to eliminate more of our physical work load. We certainly hate to turn down cases.

By the way, I love all those shows on the now named TRU TV channel and was watching "Body of Evidence" last night also. Maybe we can meet with you for coffee and further discussion if you are still interested. Let me know what you think. Good to have met you by email no matter how this turns out.
God bless,
val

So, she called me this morning to see if I'd like to meet her at the airport to watch a guy get off the plane to see if he had a "girlfriend" with him. After that, we had coffee and talked for well over an hour. She told me about a girl she was looking for so that a relative could recoup some financial "aide" he had signed for, I came home and found an email address for the girl, called Val and told her, she asked me if I wanted to go on a surveillance tomorrow and Friday night and I said "Heck yes!"

Can you believe this is happening to ME??????!!!!!!! I'm so excited I can hardly stand it! I guess I'd better think about getting a cell phone...

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Something Nice For My Twisted Sisters



I busted my arse in the parking lot at State Police this morning. Coffee in one hand, important papers in the other. Now I have coffee covered important papers.

It's Time To Spend That "Inevitable Therapy" Fund On Something Worthwhile!



I noticed something very interesting from my most recent "getting to know you" blogs with my sisters. When answering the "who would you talk to if you could talk to someone who is dead" I noticed some underlying tension! Even tension we have with our partners parents. Now we all have the right to hang on to any thoughts that we choose to. But here's how I handle things that I don't like.

I don't know anyone who hasn't been screwed up by something that has happened to them in the past by their parents or others. And I don't know anyone who hasn't screwed up their own kids in some way. Seems to be that we don't realize the impact we have on our kids until it's too late. By then, the damage is done and all we can do is admit to it and appologize to them. They really do seem to understand that we did the best we could at the time.

Now a little analagy. I have two fireplaces in my life. One is dark and one is good. I've found that if I take the bad things that happen in my life and stoke the good fireplace with those things, I feel so much better and the heat makes me feel confortable and at peace. The good fireplace continues to burn and keeps me warm and happy. If I hang on to the bad things and stoke the dark fireplace, it continues to burn and I don't like the heat that comes out of it. It gives me no comfort. I know I'll never completely extinguish the coals, they will always be hot. But I take comfort in knowing that it's all up to me to choose whether to take the bad that has happened and will continue to happen, and decide on my own whether I choose to add those things to the good fireplace or continue to fuel the dark one. I hope my kids will do the same.

Me? I'm taking that therapy money and retiring in Belize!

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

So Linda Wants To Know...

Other than losing a family member, what scares you most?

Falling from a high place. Makes me sick to my stomach to even think about it. Also, having someone in my house that doesn't belong there. One time when we lived in grama's old house, Ival and I were downstairs with the kids and I heard someone walking around upstairs. Scared the hell out of me. Ival wanted to go upstairs and see who was up there but I wouldn't let him. I made him get out of the house with the kids and we went to his mom and dad's house and called the police. We met the police back at the house and they went in with us and the cop went upstairs to check. He came downstairs with our cat...


Where is the funniest or most unusual place you’ve ever had sex?

Well, this is just WRONG! I'm not very adventurous, I think it was in the woods. Nuff said.

Like You Really Want To Know More!

So here's the answers to the 2 questions I asked my sisters.

If you could talk to 2 people who are dead, who would it be and what would you ask him/her or what would you talk about?

Naturally I'd talk to dad. I'd ask him if he could tell us where his watch and wedding ring are - mom would love to have them. I'd ask him if he could get a message to Patsy Cline to see if she could subliminaly give Kate singing lessons.

Other than your children, what have you accomplished in your life that you're most proud of?

I suppose my work with The Wishing Star Foundation gave me a lot of pride. It was awesome meeting kids that were so weak from cancer, yet so strong, and being able to provide them with a few days of pure joy. I'm also happy that the Memorial got built.

So what's next Kate????

More Than You Ever Wanted To Know About Me...

Due to lack of anything terribly interesting to say on our blogs, my sisters and I are participating in a "what I want to know about you" questionairre. My youngest sister Kate started off asking the first 3 questions and I've added a few for she and Linda to answer. They'll answer my questions on their blogs.

Here are my brilliant answers:

1. If you could have one magic power, what would it be and what would you do with it? I don't really consider this a "magic" power because I believe there are people who can actually do this - but not everyone who claims to. I would love to be able to talk to the dead. I would love to be able to help people find missing loved ones or communicate with those they've lost.

2. What is the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you? Oh dear God. This is why I don't drink. Keep in mind, I've had a hysterectomy and everything inside just freakin' falls apart after that! Ok, we were up north staying at Butch and Penny's with 3 other couples. I drank. The guys were pitching horseshoes so one of my best friends from high school and I decided to be "cheerleaders". We stood up and I started jumping to do some really awesome moves and freakin' got the jumpin' farts. My friend and I started laughing SO hard that I then wet my pants. But of course I still couldn't stop laughing. Oh dear Lord, let's see any of you top that one.



3. Name one or two things that scare you that you'd like to try this year (or at some point in your life.) I'd love to try paragliding and snorkeling.

Now here's the one's for Linda and Kate (and anyone else who wants to play along!)

If you could talk to 2 people who are dead, who would it be and what would you ask him/her or what would you talk about?

Other than your children, what have you accomplished in your life that you're most proud of?

So there you have it, I know I'll never hear the end of my embarrasing story from Kate.