Teach Your Teenagers - A Personal Story

Something that we don't think about teaching our kids is how to interact with the police. This is information that we hope they will never need but the harsh realities of this world are that more and more kids are being arrested based on information that they unwillingly reveal during a routine traffic stop.

I recently found this out the hard way. I live in Lenexa, Kansas. Lenexa cops profile teen driver's. They will stop a teenager before they stop an adult. I know because I live on a very busy street and see blatant traffic violations on a daily basis. I have seen people get into fist fights in the middle of the road. I see unrestrained children standing in the car, passing school buses that are stopped and so much more. The residents try to get something done but we aren't successful and on the rare occassion that we do get cops out here they will stop the teens instead of the adults.

My child was stopped my the cops in January for a burned out license plate bulb. They searched her car, while he was searching her car he was asking her questions to which she was responding. She was arrested for possession of cigarette rolling papers. Her car was towed.

1) She could have refused the search

2) She did not have to talk to the officer nor respond to his questions in any way other than her name.

Our District Attorney's Office automatically refers these cases for diversion "this is not an admission of guilt" we will just throw your child into the juvenile justice system without a trial for the hell of it because it brings in lots of money for the county and the system. EXCUSE ME!!!

We have opted for a trial, I want the DA's office to prove why possession of something you can buy in any convenience store is illegal. I know people who have used Bible pages to roll joints so is possession of a Bible illegal?

Lenexa will arrest a minor for possession of tobacco products instead of writing a ticket. This is overkill. Do they not know how screwed up the Juvenile justice system is in this area? Do they care? I don't think so on either count. They are bullies in my eyes.

Less than 24 hours after her arrest she was once again stopped, the front tires of her car were on the white line at a stop light, not the pedestrian walkway, the white line way before it. Once again her car was searched but this time the officer let her call me on her cell phone, I sent my husband to where they had her stopped and they let her go.

So please talk to your driving teen about this... they do not have to allow a search without a warrant or probable cause and they do not have to answer any questions without you or an attorney present.

I have never trusted in the justice system or law enforcement but I have never passed this on to my kids. My daughter was in DARE which tries to make cops out to be your friends, this also places the kids at a disadvantage as they get older... that view will land you in jail.

We punished her over this issue, 1 month of grounding and she missed her spring break trip. Who knows when it will go to trial for the court to do their thing. I will keep you posted on the outcome.

I have to vent.... Lazy people suck

I sell antiques online. This requires that I spend several hours a week attending sales and auctions in order to maintain my inventory. For the most part I don't have any complaints about the way folks conduct their sales and their business. I know who has the best estate sales, who has fair prices, high quality antiques and collectibles, knows their antiques, etc. But this past Saturday I met the dregs of the estate sale lot.

The first sale we went to seemed a little odd... 5 complete dining room sets, very few items were priced and those items that were priced were HIGH. It just did not look like a true estate sale or atleast any that I had been to before. I went into the kitchen of this house and it was piled with boxes filled with holiday crap, not antique or vintage not even collectible, it was all cheap new stuff heaped and piled in boxes. I counted 23 boxes. You couldn't move in this room much less rummage around through the items to try and find anything to buy. In another room there was a MELTED plastic doll with no head with a $10.00 price on it. I did find a few items to buy... all not priced offered them $10.00 and left.

As we were walking to the car I overheard 2 gentlemen talking behind us about how the items in the sale didn't belong to the man who lived in the house. I turned and asked what he meant and he said that he knew the family the wife died several months prior and the man recently moved. The gentleman I was talking to had been in the home on numerous occassions and recognized very little that was offered for sale. Evidently the "company" conducting the sale just hauls stuff from sale to sale in hopes that they will eventually get rid of it. There is nothing wrong with this stuff is stuff, I don't care who it belongs to as long as it's okay for you to be selling it. ATLEAST HAVE THE COURTESY TO PRICE THE CRAP!!!!!! I think that this is the deal, they don't put prices on items because some neighborhoods may be able to bring in more than others and if you have priced something then you may be cheating yourself out of a quarter or two. I do know that I will not be going to anymore of these folks sales.

The next sale was amazing. It was a family run estate sale plus it was 1/2 price day. Everything was clean and neatly displayed. I found numerous items, visited with the ladies, all sisters, they told me the stories behind most of the items I purchased and we had a great time. I really found some treasures both to sell and to keep.

Here's the downer.......

The 3rd sale, turned into our last one. It was in a fairly well-to-do neighborhood and from the outside the house looked very nice. I found a few items on the front porch, all unpriced, but at that point I was okay with it... I started a pile by the "cashier". I entered the kitchen first. OH MY GOSH it was gross. Grease was on all of the dishes, nothing was pulled out of the cabinets or on display so I reached up into a cabinet and pulled out a plate and mouse turds fell out onto my head. I flipped the plate over and it was Wedgwood. It looked like there was service for 12. There was some antique ironstone dishes but I didn't touch them they were almost black with grease and grime.

I ventured on through into a den of sorts and noticed boxes filled with family pictures. There was a stunning portrait of a lady dressed to the nines. I started wheezing..... there was mold on the walls. I found a cookbook I was interested in and grabbed it and warily made my way to another room.

The living room had several broken boxes and figurines. I went into what looked like a childs room and all of the surfaces were covered in dirt and grime and there was mouse crap on the stuffed animals. The carpet was covered in trash throughout the house.

Mind you none of this stuff had a price tag so you didn't know what they wanted for this dirty stuff and you weren't really sure what disease you were going to catch simply by touching it but I have found some great buys in worse places so I trudged on into the final room.

This room had a sign "all books in this room $2.00", cool I'll look at the books. I love books, I love selling books and I collect vintage first edition books. By this time I was having a very hard time breathing because of the mold and mildew so I was moving quick. I spyed a print on the wall that I was interested in and found 8 books that I also wanted.

I hit the front door at a dead run straight to the cashier. I grabbed my pile and asked for prices.

She grabbed and I do mean GRABBED the books out of my hands, I told her that these were in the $2.00 book room. "We won't sell anything with an inscription in it." I'm stunned but okay with that. She hands me back 3 books. I ask for the price on the print.... $25.00, I tell her to keep it. And so it goes. They wanted retail +++++ prices for this dirty, infested, greasy, crap that they couldn't be bothered with pricing beforehand or even pulling out the items they didn't want to sell. I was angry I felt that we buyer's were there to clean up and bring out the "good stuff" so that they didn't have to ruin their lungs and health by going into that nasty house.

THE REST OF THE STORY.........

When I was in the den I noticed quite a few framed letters signed "The Eisenhower Brothers", the books that they would not sell to me were inscribed to Mrs. Eisenhower and there were numerous Dwight Eisenhower items in the house (there probably were not for sale either).

DD Eisenhower was from Kansas but I know it was not Mamie Eisenhower's house. So I did some research. President Eisenhower had several brother's all of whom left the area except for the eldest, Arthur. Arthur had a wife Louise, Lousie had a daughter from a previous marriage, Katherine that Arthur adopted. Katherine married Berton Reuche (sp?) (I did buy one of his books at this sale) and they had a son. So my deduction leads to me believe that it was the home of Katherine.

Then I start feeling sorry for her. I cannot find an obituary and the family tree I looked at doesn't show her as deceased so she is probably in a home. Where were these 3 people conducting the sale when she was living in the house? Why didn't they care as much for her "name" when she was living in squalor as the do now that they are "selling" her life and letting folks tromp through her filthy house? I would bet dollars to donuts that they books and other items of note that they would not let us buy they will try to sell on ebay thinking that they will bring big bucks. I am really upset with these folks that I don't know and will probably never see again as long as I live for allowing this person to be shown to the world through the filth in this house, they could have plugged in the vacuum cleaner and taken a couple of swipes. No wonder they were sitting on the front porch.

I do believe in Karma and I know that what you put out there come back to you 3 fold. I don't want to be anywhere near these 3 ladies when their Karma catches up with them for this instance.

Shame on you and God bless you Ms. Eisenhower where ever you are.

Family Reunion Part II

The family reunion was good. We are picking ticks off of ourselves but that is okay. It was way out in the country.... and I do mean out in the country. I loved it for that in itself. It was so quite and full of fun places to explore with my grandaughter and puppy.

The house is an early 1900's farmhouse, nothing fancy but fabulous. The kids couldn't get over the fact that both bathrooms were upstairs. Actually my hubby mentioned this a few times too and it is his side of the family. His uncle passed away a couple of years ago and his aunt is getting ready to put the house on the market to sell and she wanted to have one last family get-together before she moves.

Oh how I wish I could get my brood to move out in the boonies. I have fantasized about this since we got home. I have placed my garden, painted the rooms, arranged my antique furniture and even looked into how many chickens and goats I can put on 4 1/2 acres of land. It would be so nice and comforting to be away from the noise of the speedway that runs beside my house day and night. I would be so happy out there.

Aunt N. said that her neighbor is a real pain in the ass. So I would put up a privacy fence on that side of the yard to block her view of my nirvana. Or atleast plant some fast growing shrubs along the shared fence line. But after the hell I am living in now in the suburbs a nasty neighbor would be a piece of cake.... actually I can be pretty nasty when pushed. I have out nastied quite a few folks when it came right down to it.

This is just my little pipe dream for now. Maybe in a few years when retirement gets here I can go to the country for some peace and quite. Reality sucks sometimes.

Family Reunions

I am going to a family reunion tomorrow, it is my husband's fathers side of the family. This is a bunch of really nice folks that I haven't seen in quite a few years... I didn't make it to the last funeral on that side of the family.

Both of my girls and their significant others are going with us as is my grandaughter and we have to take the puppy. He has already chewed one hole through the side of his kennel and escaped but I couldn't leave him locked up in it all day anyway. My step-daughter is on maneveurs in California in preperation for going to Iraqu so she won't be going with us.

I made my usual dish "Better Than Potato Salad", it uses rice and several other wonderful ingredients and it's always a hit. I will have to post the recipe.

My husband is oldest of 7 children, and of the 7 only 2 were invited to the reunion. The other's probably wouldn't have come anyway but I don't understand why the invitation wasn't extended to them. I found this out when I called one of his sister's to see if she wanted to ride with us. I told her that the invitation probably got lost in the mail of they may have sent it to her old address.... even though she has been in her house for about 5 years.

It should be a fun day. Lot's of good food, laughter, catching up with people I haven't talked to in way too long and need to do a better job of staying in touch, and they are going to have an egg hunt for the children (my grandaughter is excited about that). They also live out in the country so there will be some great photographic opportunities.

Nope, I don't think that it will be a bad day. Hey it could be worse, it oculd be the other side of the family!!!!!