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Random ramblings

Take the quiz: "What does your birth month reveal about you?"

December
Loyal and generous. Sexy. Patriotic. Active in games and interactions. Impatient and hasty. Ambitious. Influential in organizations. Fun to be with. Loves to socialize. Loves praises. Loves attention. Loves to be loved. Honest and trustworthy. Not pretending. Short tempered. Changing personality. Not egoistic. Take high pride in oneself. Hates restrictions. Loves to joke. Good sense of humor. Logical.

And the award goes to.....

Me! Thank you, thank you! I love you all! Heh.

I was officially informed this afternoon that the paper I submitted last semester for a class on Social & Cultural Change has been accepted for the A-MSA Conference this February in Tuscaloosa. A-MSA is actually the Alabama-Mississippi Sociological Association, and I guess every year they have an educational and "student friendly" conference where they give students a chance to submit papers to be presented at the conference. Actually, I'll just be giving about a 13 minute speech on the paper itself, which is all related to maternal filicide (Andrea Yates and Melissa Drexler) were two of my examples. The paper studied the differences between teenage mothers who murder their children, and older mothers who kill their somewhat older children.

I put alot of effort into this paper, and it's a really big deal that it's been accepted (to me anyway) so now I'm all excited. Besides, how often is it that two of my favorite topics (sociology and criminology) can be linked and I actually learn something?

This is awesome! I love school!

The insanity that is the justice system

There is some testimony from Andrea Yates' trial (that led to her murder conviction) that is under question that was made by a psychiatrist named Park Dietz, giving reference to an episode of 'Law & Order' that doesn't exist.

I'm sorry....what?

For those of you who weren't aware, criminal justice and anything to do with children and the justice system is where I want to base my career. So I'm sitting here, scratching my head because I wrote a paper last semester that may very well be submitted to a sociology conference in February for presentation, and it was on the study of maternal filicide (basic definition: the murdering of a child committed by the child's mother). The thesis of my paper was the difference between teenage mothers who kill their own and adult mothers who kill their somewhat older children.

I think every single piece of information I had concerned either Andrea Yates or Susan Smith, when it concerned adult mothers. Most of the time, their defense team sought an insanity plea as the reason they committed the crime. In the case of Andrea Yates, there was a case law review from Harvard that I read that had some bit of information on the fact that Andrea Yates was on anti-psychotic medication after the birth of her 2nd or 3rd child, and doctors had warned her husband against them having more children because it would only compound her problems.

What am I getting at? First of all, she did it. She admitted to doing it. They have that on the 911 tapes, I know. Secondly, I don't feel that she's the only one responsible. If doctors are encouraging her and her husband not to have more children, was anybody listening? Did anybody worry about leaving 5 children home alone with Andrea Yates, who was taking anti-psychotic medication and had already attempted suicide at least once on record?

This news that they're thinking of overturning her conviction because of false testimony given by this psychiatrist is unfathomable to me. I understand that the information is saying that if Dietz testimony was false, Yates should be "not guilty" by reason of insanity, but she admitted to it.....criminally insane or not, doesn't that make her guilty? She admitted it herself.

I don't know, maybe I'm out of my mind. I'm just outraged because five beautiful, innocent children are dead, and I feel like the warning signs were there and this tragedy could've been prevented.

Christmas 2004 Memories

Quick Wrap-Up
We got ornaments. I mean TONS. One was from my mother-in-law, for Christmas in our first home. My mom got us a first christmas ornament of Cherubs and also one with two bears as a bride and groom. She also brought us funky little ornaments for the dogs and things. Next year, we won't need new ornaments. Unless it says "Baby's First Christmas." (I'm thinking too far ahead).

Day by Day Recap
THURSDAY 12.23.04 Pictures Here

As my previous blog mentioned, Christina and I spent all day baking different things. The peanut butter chocolate Ritz was a big hit on Christmas Day, and the cookies were gobbled up really fast. That night, Bryan and I went to his grandmother's Christmas party which was loads of fun. Christmas 2003 I managed to open 3 gifts and have each one of them taken away during a mad game of dirty Santa. This year, the "big" gift was one of those vibrating squishy massage pillows. THREE OF THEM - And wouldn't you know, I opened all 3 and had them taken away from me. The laughter in that house was hysterical. I opened 8-10 gifts this year and had all of them swiped. Bryan even tried to help me out, but we lost track of whether or not the item was "dead" (after being "stolen" three times an item is "dead") and so someone got my massaging neck pillow. Bryan ended up with a shaving set and I got 2 Joe Boxer travel mugs. Pretty nice, broke them in Christmas Eve.

FRIDAY 12.24.04

I worked until about 7:30pm and then headed to my mother-in-law's, because every year that Bryan and I have been together it has become a tradition to share Christmas Eve with his mom and sister and open gifts. I had a theme, apparently, because all my gifts were kitchen related and ALL Fat Chef items. Bed,Bath,and Beyond sells the line I love. Then the final big present came and Bryan and I joked that it was another vaccum cleaner (this would've been the third year we'd received one) and....I GOT MY ISLAND FOR MY KITCHEN!!!! The minute we bought this house, I said I wanted an island to sit in the middle of the kitchen floor because it's SO huge. AND I GOT IT!! Okay, I'm still excited. Sue me! And sadly Bryan and I forgot to change out the battery in the digital camera, so there were no pictures this year.
Then we got home around 11pm and my mom and sisters came to spend the night with us. We didn't stay up too late that night, I think we watched "Two Brothers" halfway through before I went to bed. That is an adorable movie, by the way.

SATURDAY 12.25.04 Pictures Here

We got up early enough for me to start coffee and make breakfast (Baked Omelette, Waffles, Biscuits and homemade preserves). We ate breakfast and then started opening presents, not after Christina had said "This is the longest time we've EVER waited to open presents!" But my mom and I didn't feel like we had any reason to rush, so we didn't. I got more Fat Chef kitchen things (I now wonder if my Mother and Mother-in-law cohorted together on that plan) and I also got little toys and goodies in my stocking. My mother also have Bryan and I seperate gifts of Cordial Cherries, which is a sentimental gift in my family because that was a tradition started by my great-grandmother years before she passed away. Then we got all dressed up to go out and visit the rest of our family.

SUNDAY 12.26.04
My mom and sisters had slept over again, so I made another Baked Omelette, this time with just hashbrowns. After breakfast we gathered everybody up to go to my cousin Celena's house, and we spent the rest of the day out there having hamburgers and hotdogs off the grill for dinner.

We got snow....

Flurries. I'm not complaining, as much drama as I hear about icing driveways and scraping windshields...keep the real thing, those of you who are *lucky* enough to have it! Heh.

But we saw snow flurries today, me and my little sister, so we had some fun trying to shop at Wal-mart.

I think I filled my quota for Holiday Baking all in one afternoon. My sister and I made homemade Cranberry Chutney (it smelled so much like potpurri with the spices, we were almost too afraid to taste it), Peanut Butter Fudge with Chocolate Drizzle, Monster Cookies that consist of peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate chips, and M&Ms (basically a flour-less cookie) and to finish it all off, we made Ritz peanut butter sandwich cookies dipped in chocolate.

And I was on good behavior, I only had 2 cookies and one chocolate dipped Ritz sandwich today.
Besides, most of it is going to Bryan's grandparents' Christmas party tonight, and some with me to my bosses tomorrow morning at work. Then we're spending Christmas Eve with Bryan's mom and sister, and then my family is coming over to spend the night.

So for breakfast Christmas Day, we plan on having a Baked Omelet, Hashbrowns and Coffee, and enjoying it in front of the fireplace while we watch A Christmas Carol.

Could I be anymore of a Christmas Geek? (I just pulled a Chandler!)

So This is Christmas.....

Okay, I think it's safe to assume just by the weather conditions alone that Christmas is just around the corner. And while the tune of Jim Carrey singing You're a Mean One, Mr.Grinch I have changed the template on my blog and have done nothing but surf the internet for the last two and a half hours. I've been productive! (not.)

If you're someone who loves movies but hates paying late fees when you rent, there is a website you should definitely check out --> Netflix

Several people have recommended it to me, and Bryan and I signed up on Sunday and we've already received our first three movies (all Christmas movies, so I'm glad they got here when they did).

Nothing new going on around here. I'm still enjoying my official "off days" from work and school, and I can't say I've done anything worth talking about in the free time I've had. My mom is coming up this weekend for Christmas, so I should have good holiday pictures to post next week sometime.

PS - I love Jim Carrey's version of "The Grinch"!!