Great News!

Today Ann and Al went to mediation to settle the custody dispute for Kristy's boys. They have full guardianship and Ann can return to Washington with the boys immediately. She will probably take a week or two to figure out what to move back with her, but she'll be home soon!

As part of the agreement, John Ragsdale and his wife will get two visits per year with the kids but will have no parental decision-making authority.

Our entire family thanks everyone for their thoughts and prayers during this trying time. It's not all over yet, but now Ann can get home and hopefully speed up the healing process.

tp

Maybe a little nuts...

About two weekends ago, I was out for a walk before work when I passed a yard sale. I kind of looked at it and saw these little ceramic Christmas houses that you paint yourself. There were several boxes of them and I thought I'd maybe buy 1 or 2 for my niece to paint. When I asked the lady how much, she said "$5.00." Five bucks each? Nope five for all of them. Now the bargain hunter in me kicked in and I said, why not? There ended up being 27 little houses, and only one was a duplicate. (Plus a little penguin statue to paint.)So I thought, well maybe I will paint them and have a little Christmas village. (We already have several houses, but they are a bit bigger than these.)

I've since come to the conclusion that I must have been nuts that day. What do I need 27 little houses for? I've painted only 2 and a half of them since and it would probably take me until Christmas to finish them. My mom thinks it will take me a few years. Tony is pretty sure it was a waste of five bucks. I bet I could get more than $5 dollars for the bunch. Each one usually costs $5 to $10 retail. The question now is do I keep them and dawdle through painting, or try to sell the lot on Craigslist?

I knew all the name calling was just a show

tp

Letters to Santa

I found this little tidbit on the webtoday. Thought I'd post it for anyone who's interested.

Since 1914, children have had the joy of receiving letters from Santa Claus for free. Every letter mailed to Santa Claus before December 21st, will receive a letter back from Santa Claus himself! The earlier you can send in your letter the better.

Click here to write your letter now via internet!

Or you may send a letter to:

Santa Claus
PO Box 1
Santa Claus, IN 47579

Where are they now?

For those of you who loved the movie "Goonies" as a kid, you might find this interesting.

Chunk is an entertainment lawyer in Beverly Hills. Good for him.

http://www.cohengardnerlaw.com/about.html

Update on Case

Tony wanted me to update the blog with the link to an article on the case in the paper this week.

http://deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,700265100,00.html

If the link won't pull it up just google "Attorney Fighting Foreclosure on Ragsdale Home."

Verde Canyon

It's starting to cool down here in Phoenix. By that I mean that it's been in the 90's instead of the 100's, and maybe 70's at night. We even tried to go to the pool the other night, and it was too chilly to be much fun. I'm happy to be able to go outside and not feel oppressive air practically baking my skin.

Even with the lighter weather, I felt the need to escape a little to a place that is a bit cooler than Phoenix. This weekend we went north to a place called Verde Canyon.
It's still a very arid desert climate, but since it is at a higher elevation, the temperatures were cooler, no more than 70 or so. We took a popular train ride, which takes you past the winding river and red rock structures. We could sit inside the train, or walk out to the open air car. There are a lot of twisted mesquite trees and prickly cactus. Sometimes you can see eagles, but we didn't during this ride. They don't move very fast on the train so you can take pictures, but it does make for slow going. The ride lasts about 4 hours. It was pretty fun at first, but towards the end I was tired, and admittedly a little dizzy from the rocking motion. Still I would probably recommend it, although Tony and I talked about if you bring kids it's probably a good idea to have a game or something else for them to do, since it is so long.
Overall, a beautiful, out of the ordinary day, albeit long. Nice to get out of the house once in a while.

Tagged...

Tagged....

It's who I am...

I am... Stacey
I Want....to travel the world.
I Have.... trouble sitting still.
I Wish..... to always be a size 6 or 8, even when I eat all the chocolate in the world.
I Hate... folding laundry, and cleaning in general.
I Fear... spiders and being really poor.
I Hear.... my ceiling fan spinning round and round and a neighbor vacuuming their car. Or maybe it's Tony. wouldn't that be nice?
I Search... for good bargains and free things.
I Always... get bored. Also I spoil my nieces. Ask them, they'll tell you.
I Usually... watch too much TV.
I Am Not... friendly enough.
I miss... being a size 4 like I was at my wedding. Oh and I guess I miss my sister Melissa, little sister Amanada, and my nieces. Maybe my brother once in a while. (I can't miss my mom, she lives with me.)
I love... the ocean, chocolate, and Tony. (Not necessarily in that order.)
I Never.... feel like I have enough money.
I Rarely... do things with other women who aren't family. Seems like I'm always working, when they are home with the kids.
I Cry... when I'm angry. Not so much when I'm sad, but make me mad and you better pull out the umbrella.
I am Not Always... nice. I can be too judgemental.
I Lose... words and names. I never remember peoples names, and I can't always think of the right word, even though it's on the tip of my tongue.
I'm Confused... when it comes to logical things. I don't think the same way other people do.
I Need... activities outside of the house.
I Should... clean more. Maybe.
I Dream... about owning a house close to a beach that is somewhat private, decorating it with imported furniture and things from places I've been to, having friends and family come for visits, walking along the beach and finding neat things that have washed up there, and of course travelling.

I tag... Amber, and anyone else who wants to.