Stuff

Well, got my truck back yesterday, FINALLY!! At least it runs REALLY good now!! I can go through water without being thrown across the road, that's nice. I don't shake really bad either. It drives really smooth! Had Dean change the oil too. We are all glad to have my truck back!

Joe was supposed to have a Tennis match yesterday but just when they were going to start it started raining and it was canceled. So, here is CJ and I in Ashtabula 2 and a half hours before he starts gymnastics! We went to Wal*Mart and got some chocolate bunnies that were marked down and then I just dropped him off early and went to the library. By the time I got home I was crying. I was so miserable and in pain! I should have stayed home. I was gone from 3:30 till 9pm. I went straight to bed when I got home too. I even fell asleep sitting up around 11am and slept till Dean called at 1pm to tell me my truck was done. Good thing or I wouldn't have picked the kids up from school!

Today, I took them to school and came right home. I will pick them up and come straight home. If Joe's Tennis match is today, seeing if the rain goes away, I won't be going. I will stay right at home and NOT go anywhere!

Joe's Band Teacher

Update: I see a LOT of people coming to this post to find out about Jeffery A. Bickle. If you want to know more about this case click HERE.



Joe's all time favorite teacher is his band teacher, Mr. Bickle. This was in yesterday's paper. Joe is VERY upset, poor guy!

Police arrest teacher in sex-with-student case

CONNEAUT — A 25-year-old Conneaut Middle School music teacher appeared in Conneaut Municipal Court Monday afternoon on charges he had sex with a 17-year-old high school student over the past several months.

Jeffrey A. Bickel, 275 Whitney St., faces five counts of sexual battery, a third-degree felony, and one count of disseminating material harmful to juveniles, a fifth-degree felony, according to court records.

Bickel surrendered to authorities Monday afternoon, accompanied by attorney Paul Conn of Youngstown. After a brief hearing before Conneaut Municipal Court Judge Thomas Harris, Bickel went to city jail, where he was booked and fingerprinted.

He was released on a personal recognizance bond, a court spokeswoman said. A preliminary hearing will be held at 11 a.m. May 12.

Each of the sexual battery charges carries a maximum five-year prison sentence and $10,000 fine. The disseminating-material charge carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and $2,500 fine. If convicted, Bickel faces a possible 26-year jail sentence.

Sexual battery charges were filed because the alleged victim is a student in an “institution of higher learning,” where the alleged offender is “a teacher, administrator, coach or other person in authority,” according to a copy of the arrest warrant.

As a condition of his release, Bickel must stay away from all Conneaut schools, including several neighborhoods surrounding Conneaut High School; may not attend any school function in Conneaut or in Ohio; and cannot contact the girl or her family, according to court records.

Conneaut Detective Sgt. Charles Burlingham said police began their investigation after receiving a call from Ashtabula County Children’s Services a few weeks ago.

The Children Services Board contacted police after receiving an anonymous complaint about a Conneaut teacher having sexual relations with a student.

During the course of the investigation, police obtained search warrants late last month. According to court records, officers sought cellular telephone and computer data from Bickel’s home.

Court records do not yet indicate what material — if any — police took from the home.

An affidavit police filed with the court to secure the search warrants provided some information about the investigation. The girl denied having a relationship with Bickel when interviewed at CHS last month by police and a CSB representative, according to the document. One day later, police and the CSB representative spoke with the girl’s parents, and her mother said her daughter admitted she and Bickel had been exchanging calls and text messages and had “sexual relations” in November or December.

None of the encounters occurred on school property, Burlingham said.

The pair had intercourse on “several (occasions),” according to the affidavit. On one occasion, Bickel reportedly sent nude photos of himself via his cellular telephone to the girl, police said in the affidavit.

Bickel is the music teacher at Conneaut Middle School and assistant marching band director, according to reports. He reportedly began working for the Conneaut Area City Schools District last fall.

Police said they believe Bickel was recently placed on leave.

Kent Houston, CACS’ superintendent, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Monday. Earlier, Houston was seen entering a meeting with Burlingham, Conneaut Law Director Lori Lamer and Luke Gallagher, assistant law director.

Prior to the meeting, Gallagher said Bickel’s alleged conduct was reported to school administrators “at some point” late in 2008 but that information was not shared with police or Children’s Services, Gallagher said. State law obliges school officials to contact authorities with such complaints, Gallagher said.

A message left for Conn at his Youngstown office was not returned immediately Monday afternoon.

All Went Well

Today my surgery went well. Got there at 8am and I was supposed to have it at 9am but she was running behind. Didn't get back there and started till 11am. It was odd to be rolled down the hallway looking up at the lights going by. I don't remember falling asleep at all.

I woke up and they gave me something for the pain and I went back to sleep. I could NOT seem to wake up!! I have NEVER been THAT tired!! Finally around 3:30 they made me sit up and eat something to wake me up so I could go home. I finally got home at 5pm. They pain isn't too bad at all, I'm just tired. I slept the rest of the day and it's now 10:15pm and I am finally awake enough to be on the computer for a bit.

Joe is on the schedule for playing Tennis so he won't be going to his JR. Phil. I can't wait for JR. Phil to be done. April 30th is his concert and then we are done with that. Tennis will be done around May 7th.

Easter Sunday!

Well, it's Easter Sunday. I made the boys baskets last night and they each got little gifts. CJ got a nice watch and Joe got some of those rubber shoes and a couple months on his game that he plays. CJ's loves his watch but I just grabbed it and paid at the register so I don't have the instructions for it since I didn't pay at the jewelry counter, LOL! I'll have to check it out online. But, you don't have to set the time, it does it via satellite They got a lot of chocolate of course. NO GRASS!! I don't do grass ever since I saw some hanging out my cats butt!!! EEWW!!! They like to eat the stuff! That is why we don't do tinsel too!! Nothing like seeing Christmas Tree Tinsel hanging out the cats butt!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We went to church this morning and then came home to change. The shirt I bought to wear to church was a size too big. It's a low cut front and I had to keep trying to pull it up so my cleavage wasnt' showing! YIKES!! Then we headed over to the in-laws. I made rosemarina salad (of course) and I made deviled eggs. Chuck usually eats about 12 of them himself so there is never enough.

We had a good time and we were home a little after 4pm. I am doing up all the laundry and sweeping the whole house and mopping the kitchen floor because tomorrow I am going in for surgery at 8am. I am having my tubes tied, they don't really tie them but they burn them. Since we have insurance I wanted to have this done before we lost the insurance. I've been wanting Chuck to have it done since Joe was 5 but he just never has. So, I'm taking it upon myself to have it done. I would HATE to have an "accident" right now or even later! YIKES!!!

So, that is up for tomorrow and I'm not sure how I will feel. Chuck is taking the boys out to eat tomorrow so I have NOTHING to worry about tomorrow. They are taking the bus to school and my mother-in-law will pick them up and take them to her house to get their homework done and then she will take them to Tennis practice at 3:30. Chuck will pick them up from there. Not sure how I will feel for the next day. Chuck can take them to school but Tuesday is the day that one kid goes one way and the other kid goes another way. We'll see how it goes when the time comes.

Books and Movies

You know, I think books are so much better than the movie. I saw this movie on TV the other month called Dolores Claiborne and I decided to get the book. I got the book on CD from the library and put it on my iPod. Not sure if you have ever seen the movie, it's a Stephen King book. But last night I was listening to it in bed and it got to the part about where she kills her husband by making him fall into a 30 foot dry well. In the movie he just falls in and dies but not in the book!! Man, it was SO GOOD that I had to make myself turn it off at 12:30am because I knew I needed to get some sleep! LOL!!

Man, the book is really good. Now, to find another one to listen too, LOL!!

Started some seeds in the house to plant in the garden here soon. Mostly just tomatoes and peppers. The rest I can just plant right into the garden. Hopefully we will get it tilled up here soon.

SNOW!!

Okay, I thought it was spring???? Yup, it's snowing here and coming down pretty good too. I wonder if spring will ever come and stay?? Here I'm thinking about getting my garden going and it goes and snows!! ARG!!!

Sandy's New Bone

This is Sandy's first "Big Girl" bone! I bought her a much smaller one the day before and she had it gone in an hour! So, when I was at Wal*Mart I bought her the biggest one they had! She can barely carry it around! She hasn't had any bones all year so I really wanted to get her one but it sure didn't last long. So far, this one is still around and probably will be for some time now, LOL!!

Easter Eggs

Yesterday, I spent most of the day at the church making chocolate covered eggs. We make Peanut Butter, Maple Walnut and coconut. They are 10 oz before you dip them in chocolate. CJ was going to go but he woke up in pain still and didn't want to go. He raising money to go to youth camp so my hours go towards that. I had a really good time. The only problem was the frosting. It was SO runny!! No matter how thick I made it, it ran. I told them their recipe stank and they needed a new one made for decorating and they needed to use frosting bags and not some contraption. Needless to say I am now in charge of frosting and will be for years to come, LOL!! I don't mind, cuz they really needed a new recipe!

The men mixed the batches up.

Then you have to weigh it so that it's 10 oz.

Then you have to shape them to look like potatoes.

Then they get dipped in chocolate.
Then we put them in the fridge to harden then we have to cut the excess chocolate off the bottoms so they will fit into the containers. The excess chocolate doesn't work so well to re-use so we get to take it home. I'm going to make chocolate suckers with mine! Here is a Dean cutting off the excess chocolate.
Then once they are in the containers I go around putting on the frosting. It's supposed to be a pink flower with a leaf but really it's just a pink blob with a green blob, LOL!!! Here is a bunch ready for lids. Wendy's in Girard donated all the containers!

Then we put lids on them and stickers and packed them up into boxes ready to be sold. We sell them for $5 an egg. I think we made over 300 eggs yesterday. I don't remember. Here is Kenny packing them up.

I was there for 5 hours and I can't believe how TIRED I was the rest of the day!!! I was totally wiped out. I guess I'm going soft! LOL!! If we sell out this Sunday we will be doing this again on Thursday and I will make a new batch of frosting and use frosting bags and the flowers will look like flowers! LOL!!

Bloody Noses

Well, at noon today the school nurse called me and said CJ was having a bloody nose and it was REALLY bad. We get this a lot. CJ has them all the time. In fact, this was the third one this week. They last about an hour and he does bleed all over the place. He was at lunch and got up cuz he knew he had one and went to the bathroom and got it all over the mirror, sink and floor and had to call the janitor. They made me take him to the ER. Good grief! So much for lunch with the girls this week. I was going to leave in 15 minutes when I got the call.

So, took him to the ER and the doctor we like was there and joked around with CJ and they were both laughing most of the time. We told him about the other doctor and what happened and he wasn't too happy about it. The doctor said he was the head of ER and he wanted to know who it was. I had no clue and just said it was last month sometime.

I felt so bad for CJ, the doctor had to use silver nitrate and burn the vessel that keeps breaking open causing the nose bleeds. He numbed the area but CJ still shook, turned really red and cried. This is a guy that never cries because he is hurt so I KNEW he was in some major pain.

Then the doctor got this long piece of gauze covered in Vaseline and rolled it up and shoved it up his nose! He has to keep it there till Saturday morning. It's SO uncomfortable for him. He has this weird band aide over it too. The doctor told the nurse, "Okay, bring me the nose sling" LOL!!! CJ couldn't stop laughing and then the doctor couldn't stop laughing! LOL!! Love that guy!

The doctor said no school tomorrow and no gymnastics tonight. He gave me a note to give to the school. CJ and I went back to the school since all his stuff was still there. There is no school next week for spring break so we wanted to be sure to bring it all home. The nurse felt better knowing that CJ will probably not have bloody noses any more. She felt bad when she saw him, he looks terrible! I gave the school the note so I don't have to worry about calling them tomorrow. We waited in the back parking lot for an hour till school let out and got Joe and went home.

By the time we got home his nose REALLY hurt since the numbing had worn off. He's been in his room all night and he so wants to take out that gauze. He keeps sneezing and that isn't helping either. Tomorrow is the day we make chocolate covered eggs at our church. They are 10oz BEFORE you dip them! They are SO good. CJ wants to go but we'll see how he feels. I will still go. CJ was selling eggs to earn money for camp this summer. He gets paid to make them too. That is why I am going so he can get credit for it. We'll have to see how is doing.

Chuck and I went into town and dropped Joe off to Tennis practice and then went over to Dean's Auto. Found out that the problem with my truck is the 4X4. It is wanting to lock but it won't let it so it shakes my whole truck like crazy. This whole time I thought I had bad tires. They aren't sure why it's wanting to do that so they have to figure that out. In the mean time, Dean gave us his plow truck to drive around because only have one truck isn't working. Chuck can't work since I have to get the boys at 2 and then run them all over. Then on Tuesday's I go one way and Chuck goes another with each boy. So, I thought that was really nice of him to let us use his truck till mine is done. Dean took the plow off the front.

Life

I still don't have my truck yet. Dean found a problem in the back end but isn't sure what it is so he sent it to a guy that deals in back ends in Girard so we are waiting to hear what it is. My truck shakes and I always thought it was just bad tires but I guess it's not. I hope I get it back soon. Tonight I will have to take Joe to Jr. Phil and CJ will have to miss gymnastics. Last week it was the other way around.

Last night Joe had his Spring Concert for Band at the high school. It was 5th through high school bands and really it was good. We got home late, ate chicken and CJ had to try and finish up his homework. I had to print out his book report, it was a poster type thing. Joe got an A on his!! :) Joe had to have his in last Friday but CJ had till Tuesday. They have different teachers.

My favorite movie broke the other day. I am SO SAD!!! "For Richer or Poorer" is my all time favorite movie and I've had it since the boys where babies and it broke. It was a VHS. I don't know if they had DVD's back then? LOL!! I watched it so much I wore the thing out! I am now going to have to find the DVD.

I couldn't believe it when I woke up yesterday and let the dog out that we have almost 2 inches of snow!! I thought it was spring?? That better be the last time I see snow for a while, LOL! I'm tired of the cold weather.

I'm getting ready for my garden this year. My sister, Kitty, talked me into doing one. I wasn't going to, lazy I guess but I have changed my mind and I'm going to do one. We are going to put it out back where I don't mow but where there are no stumps. We'll have to use the neighbors tractor and plow it up. Hope it goes well! We'll be doing this pretty soon.