J made me go to the dermatologist to get a weird brown spot on my face checked out.  In my younger days, I spent lots of time out in the sun.  I taught horseback riding at a summer camp. I was in the sun all day, and I was too busy to think about sun screen.  And, my favorite past time during law school was laying on the beach with a book.  Yeah...

So, I went to the dermatologist today and she checked out my brown spot.  She touched it, looked at my back, touched it again, and then she said she's going to need a biopsy.  O.K.  I've had biopsies before, when should I come in?  Um..no need for another appointment, I'll take the biopsy right now, its quick.

WTF!?  I needed time to mentally prepare.  I was freaking out b/c I didn't really understand the process, wasn't ready for the influx of needles being put into my face, or the idea that my cheek was being scraped.  I asked the nurse about healing, she said it healed just fine and showed me her scar.  Um..that's a scar.  That's not healing!!  And, this is my face.  My face is going to have a scar from some Dr. I've never met before scraping a layer of skin off.

I know this needed to be done, and that it was for my benefit.  It's not like I would have said, no its going to leave a scar.  But, I was not prepared for this idea.  At all.

But, the biopsy happened.  I now have a lovely band-aid on my face, that I will wear all day tomorrow.  I'm waiting for a co-worker to tease me about the band-aid on my face so I can say "it's a biopsy, bitch."

Now, I have to wait for two weeks for the results.  If I get a yellow card in the mail, it is benign.  If I get a phone call, there are problems.  So, good thoughts for the yellow card...

Sometime later, an update on when we are going to NYC.  Or, how we lost our honeymoon.

I have ice on my foot right now because I'm such an idiot...

Last night, as I was walking into our bedroom, J asked me a question.  I turned to answer it, and kept walking -- straight into a cat scratching post.  My foot hit the wooden furniture at full step force.  Owch!

My baby toe is swollen and painful.  I wore flip flops all day.  For morning court, I was able to shove my foot into a shoe and painfully hobble to the defense table and hobble out of the court room.  I quickly changed back into flip flops as I was talking to my client.  For afternoon court, I tried to put my foot into a shoe, but it was too swollen and painful.  So, I made a wonderful fashion statement.  I wore one shoe and one flip flop.  I was sexy.

I don't think its broken.  It doesn't hurt enough for that.  I think I just sprained it or something.  So, I will hobble around for a little while and hopefully it will get better soon.

It was beautiful and sunny here yesterday, so I decided we should go for a walk by the lake.  I packed a picnic lunch and we went to the park.  Big Mistake!  I didn't realize how sick I still am.  I feel fine.  But, after walking a little bit, I was exhausted.  My eyes were watering from my contacts (my eyes hate my contacts), my nose was running, I started feeling achy, I was completely winded, and I just wanted to take a nap.  We went back to the car, grabbed the super cute picnic basket we got for our wedding, and went to find a picnic table.  Apparently, Milwaukee County parks only have picnic areas.  They don't have just picnic tables.  The picnic areas you can rent.  All the picnic areas were rented, so we gave up walking, plopped our butts on the ground and ate lunch.  We got stains on our butts and J got three bug bites.  Neither one of us was happy with the situation.  We came home and I took a nap.

I made a huge mess in the kitchen making dinner.  I tried 2 new recipes.  Neither one of them was very exciting.  I tried to braise some bok choy.  J just doesn't like it, and now he swears it makes him sick.

Today we went to Ponderosa with my parents for a belated father's day celebration.  It was nice to hang out with them and chat.  Now we are just chilling at home with the cats, waiting for the Olympic trials to come on the tv.

This is a short, easy week for me.  And, zap26 and K are coming from PA for an extra long weekend.  It will be nice to hang out with them.  We are working on plans for the weekend.

stolen from zekejojo

The Big Read reckons that the average adult has only read 6 of the top 100 books they've printed. Well let's see.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Cross out the ones you started but didn't finish
5) Reprint this list in your own LJ so we can try and track down these people who've read 6 and force books upon them ;-) 
37.  Not bad, but not great.

Some days I believe that the criminal justice system is one giant warehouse for mentally ill people.  Today was one of those days.  I had to set a trial for a developmentally disabled man (whose already been in jail the maximum amount of time) b/c he couldn't adequately explain a trial to the judge.  The DA refused to give him an ordinance (ticket) so he wouldn't have to answer the judge's questions about a trial.  So, I'm going to have a trial with a man with severe developmental disabilities who doesn't want a trial.  And, when the jury finds him guilty, the Judge can't sentence him to anything other than the time he has already served.  He has nothing to lose...except I think he will freak out if he actually goes to trial.  I hope the DA stops being a jackass...

At least the other DA did not fight me on my motion to transfer my super, violent, crazy client to the mental hospital.  That motion was loosely based in the law, and the judge didn't argue either.

We got CSA box 2 today.  We got more bok choy, strawberries and lettuce.  Yummy.

I made a frittatta for dinner tonight.  It was my first stab at one, and it was yummy.  I will be making it again sometime, but I learned I need to cook it at a higher temperature.  The more I cook, the more I enjoy it.

Our photographer posted ALL of our wedding pictures.  When we get the CD, I will do a recap with pictures, but, for those who want to see lots and lots of pictures here's the link

http://www.pictage.com/client/event.do?event=461267

Still sick, but feeling a little better.  I finally got some medication that makes me feel better.  I've been napping all weekend and have barely left the house.  I am going to be so exhausted tomorrow after work.

One of the times I left the house was to go to roller derby.  It was a lot of fun.  The girls from Tampa Bay were really, crazy fast.  Apparently their coach is a former speed skating champion. It was great to watch.  The Bruisers were getting there asses handed to them -- they were down  by like 30 points, but they came back to win.  It made me excited and a little sad.  I really want to be a roller girl.  But, the more I learn about the requirements (2 2 hour practices a week, 1 bout a month, mandatory monthly meeting, and participation in 1 committee).  That's a lot for me to handle with my job.  But, I think I am going to help with the stats crew at least.  I have to be available for bouts and attend the occasional, non-mandatory, practice.  I can do that.

Since I was feeling better, I made a salad for dinner.  It was a little boring.  The salad was all baby bok choy.  It was worth a shot.  Later this week, I will make a frittata with potatoes, leeks, garlic, spinach and sun dried tomatoes.  I am enjoying my foray into cooking. 

Now, I just wish I would start feeling better.

I'm still sick.  I've been sick since Wednesday.  Yesterday, I actually called into work sick which is something I rarely do.  I feel bad making someone handle my cases on top of there own.  I spent the day sleeping and watching TLC.  That's what I've been doing today too.  Poor Jesse is sooo bored.  I'm hoping I can medicate myself enough to enjoy the roller derby bout tonight.  I figure I can drive a mile down the road, sit in a chair, and watch some bad-ass girls on skates.

I hate being sick in the summer.  Its such a nice day here.  I just want to go out and play.  Instead, I"m going to take another nap.

Still sick, but I have two hearings this afternoon that I just cannot pawn off on anyone else. I have a sentencing argument where the client will hopefully be released, and, more importantly, I have an evidentiary hearing with a witness driving in a couple hours to testify. I can't miss that just for a cold. But, hopefully, the witness won't show up so we can re-schedule and I can go home and chill.

Last night I was super bitchy to J. Like really overly bitchy. I know it, I was feeling like utter crap, and sometimes I wish he would take care of ME when I'm sick. Just do things so I don't have too, and do them without me asking him to do them.

One of the best being-taken-care-of-when-I-was-sick was in college. My roommate and I were practically delirious with fever. We were both laying in the living room having a whacked out conversation. My g/f at the time, came over and made us vegetarian vegetable soup (my favorite) and proceeded to clean our entire kitchen (that was dirty from 2 other roommates and days of being sick) and downstairs. I didn't ask her to do it, but it definitely was appreciated. With me, its the little things that count..

For the record, when I had to have surgery a couple years ago, J did sweetly show up after surgery with a cute stuffed animal. That was nice.

I will now go back to hiding in my office by myself, so I do not infect anyone else.

Blech. I'm sick. I hate being sick. I'm now sitting at home, with a breathe-right strip on my nose so I can breathe, getting ready to start looking for recipes.

We got our first CSA box today. There will be a few small boxes now as the fields recover from the copious amounts of rain, but it will be enough for us. I'm hoping they are able to get enough strawberries, so we can have some soon. This week we got a basil plant, baby bok choy, garlic greens, a leek, and potatoes. I think I have found a yummy recipe for the potatoes and garlic greens. Now, I need to figure out what to do with the bok choy.

There are some days at my job that get to me more than others. Today was one of those days. All morning, I just wanted to go to my office, close the door and cry. My first client of the morning is so pathetic. He belongs in a group home, or a hospital, not a jail. He has been in custody since the end of December, and he is accused of entering a school, after hours, with an old key he had. His statement to the police "I needed to use the bathroom." He has some serious mental illnesses and some very bad developmental delays. He just wants this done. When his case first started, I tried so hard to get him to a hospital, on an order to take his meds (which could be extended year after year after year), but the DA wouldn't do it. Now, that he's back from the hospital and on his meds, they want to do that. But, they have no idea of what they are doing. It just makes me so sad how they use the jail as a warehouse for the mentally ill. I usually end up taking on a lot of the clients with severe mental illness and developmental disabilities since I have a lot of experience in this area. My client today was just so sad and pathetic. The last thing he said to me, with sad puppy dog eyes was "will this be the last day?" I promised that it would be. He just broke my heart.

Then I went to talk to another client who was just depressed. All he could do his hang his head. I came to tell him that his defense wasn't panning out, so there's a good chance he will go back to prison. He's 18. His mom walked out on him right after he came home from prison a couple months ago. He had no place to stay. Now, he's back in jail and he just wants to know where his mom is. And, his younger cousin was just murdered this weekend. He was all kinds of depressed.

I started feeling better as the day wore on. My co-workers make me laugh and there were other things I needed to deal with. Then, I got an e-mail that I had been waiting for: our photographer put up a blog post with our wedding photos. Seeing them and reading what she wrote made me much happier, remembering that day and all the people who came to celebrate with us.

Here is the link,
http://mthreestudio.blogspot.com/2008/06/wedding-laura-jesse_17.html
Don't worry, the slideshow isn't working. It's not your computer.

It was a beautiful day here.  I had plans to go play outside after I got my hair cut (which is all kinds of weird, I just need to suck it up and drive 45 minutes and pay $50 in Milwaukee if I want a decent hair cut -- but that's a different story).

J was taking our long haired cat, appropriately named Fluff, to get her annual lion cut.  When he got there, they didn't have J listed as having an appointment.  But, they said they would squeeze her in.  Two hours later of being stuck in her carry case they start grooming her.  Fluff was being a total asshat.  She was biting, squirming, anything to get them to let her go.  She was having none of it.  Then, she peed on herself.  After that, the groomer decided she was done and brought Jesse a half-shaved cat covered in her own piss.  Awesome.

J walked in the door at the odor was awful (for those of you who don't know, cat urine is a super, super, super strong smell).  So, we shoved her in the bathroom and put the carrier outside.  We were out of cat shampoo, so I got a bright idea.  I put some organic lavender hand soap in the bath tub and started filling it with water.  I told J to bring Fluff  over.  She was squirming so much J just dropped her into the tub.  I just held her in the water with one of my hands on her neck/shoulders (where an animal preying on her would grab) and her backside.  She tried to get away, but I was able to hold her in the soapy water for a little while.  Then she started thrashing so bad that her face was underwater most of the time.  So, we let her go.  We just let her stay in the bathroom 

We went to PetSmart to get some Nature's Miracle to remove the urine smell.  Came home, sprayed her with the shampoo stuff we found then washed everything else.  We let her sit in the bathroom like that for about an hour.  Then I let her out for some food, and she still smelled like urine.  I determined it was right where J's hands had been holding her up for me to squirt her earlier.  So, he scooped her up and I rubbed more Nature's Miracle on her.

She's finally clean enough that I feel she can be let out of the bathroom and won't make all our furniture smell like cat urine. 

Then, it started raining.  Stupid cat.  Anyone want her?

Some days, more than others, I realize I really do have a work husband.  Its pretty funny.   Jesse always tells me he's my work husband b/c he keeps me in line.  But, we are almost always together. We walk to court together, we plan on co-chairing each other's trials, we've sat in on each other's hearings, we go to each other's office for everything.  Most of the time I think its us just being friends.  I had a friend like that in my Brooklyn office.  But then, today I realized he really was my work husband.

I've been meaning to hang some pictures in my office for a long time.  I was trying to figure out where to hang them, but its really impossible to hold pictures and the wall and figure out if they look good by yourself.  So,  I had him come help me.  He measured the wall space and figured out where to hang the pictures.  He thought it would be easy to hang the pictures with thumbtacks b/c the pictures were so light.  He was trying to figure out how to push the thumbtacks into the really hard wall.  I gave him a hammer.  He just looked at me with the Laura, you are being crazy eyes , placed a comforting yet semi-condescending hand on my shoulder and said "they are just thumbtacks.  I think the hammer would do more harm than good."  He then proceeded to hang my pictures for me while I conducted an update meeting with the investigator.

I never would have thought that I would need one husband, let alone two.

I have been so busy at work.  I'm trying to keep up and its hard.  I'm at work late often, I'm constantly busy.

Currently, my biggest stress is my secretary. She sucks.  I mad an official complaint to management last week.  Really, the only thing she needs to do for me is open my cases.  THat's it.  Guidelines say that cases need to be opened within 48 hours.  Its been taking me weeks to get my cases.  If I don't have my cases, I don't have the police reports.  And, today that problem affected me...severely. 

 I needed our investigators to talk to some witnesses.  Usually, when we do investigation requests, we attach the police reports.  But, I needed the investigation done because the case was moving forward.  I wrote the investigation request and said "when I get the police reports, I will get them to you" and I attached the 1 police report that I had.  My direct supervisor signed off the requests, and I went to court this morning.  In three hours I had an e-mail from the regional attorney director and the regional support staff director  "talking" to me about the investigation request without the police reports.  I was mad.  This was not my fault.  I was trying to do my job.  It was not my fault that the support staff are not supporting me, in fact, they are making my job harder!  So, I called my secretary's supervisor and told her why (she knows about the problems I've been having).  Then when my direct supervisor mentioned something to me, I pulled her into my office to tell her that the big guns have been pulled on me and this wasn't my fault.  Its not my fault I don't have the police reports yet.  I was mad.  I don't mind getting in trouble for something that is my fault.  But, getting in trouble for something that is not my fault.  I really wish she could be fired, but she can't...stupid union.

I'm still waiting for the pro pictures from our celebration.  I'm very excited to see them.  I still can't believe its really over.  We've been planning our wedding stuff for almost a year, and now its over.  I feel like I should still be planning things.

Boring post.  Maybe, when I have more time, I will write about the lovely live porn show I saw at the prison yesterday.

inNo Indigo GIrls for us tonight.

J and I went to Pride today to volunteer for the booth.  As we were walking to the gates, you could hear the severe thunderstorm warning over the loud speaker.  Great.

We went in, found the tent and chatted with the people who run the group.  Then, it started pouring.  It was raining so hard, it was splashing into the middle of the tent.  So the four of sat huddled as close as we could to the center of the tent trying to stay dry.  A lot of the stuff got wet, but we didn't get too wet.  As the rain slowed, there was an "emergency meeting" about closing the section we were in.  Basically, there was a bunch of small tents in a row with no sides, so lots of room to get wet.  They decided to close the section we were in b/c it was supposed to rain more and there was barely anyone in the festival at this point.

J and I helped clean up.  We wandered around looking at things a little bit, but I really am not in the market for a rainbow t-shirt or a rainbow necklace.  Then we called SIL and friends and decided it probably wasn't safe for them to come and it probably wasn't worth it.  There were 3 performances in the 7 - 10 p.m. time slot including the Indigo Girls, so they were going to have a pretty short set.  I wanted to get home while it was still dry (considering the trouble we had yesterday).  So, we decided no Indigo GIrls and went home.

We stopped at Culver's where I stole 2 very, very yummy bites of J's hamburger (FYI:  I haven't really eaten red meat in 15 years).  I may have my own butter burger in the not too distant future. And now we're home, relaxing, and it hasn't rained since we closed the booth.

J and I were going to go to Pride today, but we decided to have a stay at home day instead.  We've been running around for the past month for wedding errands, the wedding, family get-togethers, hospital visits, etc. so much that we are exhausted.  Its been a long time since we had a day just to ourselves, so we took the opportunity.

J played video games, we cleaned the house, I put away  a lot of our wedding items.  I made the marinade for dinner (satay chicken).

J got bored, so we decided to go to Target.  I made him wait until after I worked out.  Sadly, that was a HUGE mistake.

We went to Target, as we walked in the doors we were told there was a tornado warning and if we went into the store we would  have to hang out in the back.  I decided that we should stay.  The Target was probably safer than our 3rd floor apartment w/lots of glass and no inside rooms.  We hung out there for about an hour.  The warning cleared, but there were severe thunder storm warnings and flash flood warnings.  It was raining sooo hard, that we decided to wait it out.  Another HUGE mistake.  After spending at least 45 minutes wandering around Target, we decided we just needed to get home.  So, we bought some items and headed out to our car.

We were soaked by the time we reached our car.  We started driving, but had to turn around b/c the road to our house was closed due to flooding.  J took another road.  It was crazy how much water was everywhere.  All the yards were completely flooded, the roads had water in them.  We were happy we had our 4-wheel drive Honda CRV.  We got almost home, but there was water that was super deep, (there was at least one car stalled out in the water) so J decided to try another way.  That road also had super deep water in it, so J turned around and headed back to where we came from so we could try to get home.  It was pretty scary.  We had to drive through some pretty deep water to get home.  I was tense and scared and ready to cry.  Thank goodness J was driving.  I could feel the tension and the pull on the wheels as J drove through the deepest water.  We just wanted to get home...

Obviously, we made it.  Its raining again.  We need to go to Pride tomorrow, but the forecast still says severe thunderstorms and flash floods (60% chance).  I don't really want to go, but we volunteered to sit at the FORGE (FtM) group table in the morning.  And, we have family and friends coming in from out of town to see the Indigo Girls.  Honestly, if our friends decide the weather is too bad to come to Milwaukee, we may just go home so we don't have to worry about driving home in a flash flood or standing outside in a severe thunderstorm.  There was a time when I flew across the country to see the Indigo Girls.  Now, I have trouble thinking its worth being outside in the rain to see the Indigo Girls.

Here's hoping we don't have any tornados while I am asleep b/c we can't hear the tornado whistles where we live.  We left our house during a tornado warning and had no idea.  That sucks.

I just got a massage.  I am relaxed and happy.

I  look cute for our "night on the town"

We are going to get asian food, update our registry with things we want to buy at 10%, and go to the grocery store.  Sad that this is a fun night out for us.

I just saw myself on tv.  They didn't have me saying anything (they were talking over me), but I was on tv a few times.

J couldn't be bothered to come see.  He says he sees me everyday.  But, not on tv.....

now i need some food.  chips do not equal dinner.

Today I did my first real homicide case.  O.K. by "did" I mean I asked for a lower cash bond, but still.  It was the first time touching a homicide case.  The case has been all over the news, but we haven't been watching it lately (just the weather).  It's an alleged drunk driver (which I absolutely abhor) who crashed into a father of four on his way to work.  When I read the complaint, I wasn't prepared for how the description of the dead body would hit me.  There was something so real about a drunk driving accident, that isn't there in any of the shooting deaths.  I believe I am showing my privilege, but that's the truth.

The other bad thing is that the defendant is a Spanish speaker who has only been in the U.S. for 7 years, but has managed to be arrested twice for drunk driving.

I hate drunk driving cases.  Someone else will be representing him for the rest of the case.

But, there were 3 tv cameras in the court room, and other various members of the press.  I'm glad today was not the day I spilled coffee on myself.  Now, I'm off to go see if I'm on the news at all.