A Week In

We've completed the first week of the new DVO position and all I can say is that I am loving every second of it! I am so nervous to say that, but it's just working out so wonderfully. Chancho has had the most normal hours that I've ever experienced. He's been home every night this past week, with the exception of his arrest day. He will have the same schedule this upcoming week as well. What's even better is that he's up early enough that he's not sleeping all the time anymore!

As for the job itself, he's still feeling it out. He was able to shadow his new partner and learn the ropes as well as he could. He did well up until he had a bunch of paperwork and then he got overwhelmed, but that's understandable with never having done it before. He's also noticing the type of people that he's dealing with now. He has female victims the majority of the time, who are have been obviously abused, but won't do anything about it. Very very different people compared to the suspended licenses and marijuana arrests that he's been doing. I think it's going to take a lot of time to understand these victims and learn how to talk to them and help them without causing anymore harm. I can tell already that it bothers him, I try to remind him that this is a problem that these women have been dealing with for a long time and that this isn't the first time the cops have been called. Unfortunately, it's an awful cycle that he's being pulled into. There are so many options out there for domestic violence victims. I just hope that he will be able to help someone when the time comes. With patience, practice and his personality, I think he'll do great with this after he's gotten comfortable with himself.

Chancho also sang for the first time in his choir at church this morning. It didn't sound too bad. It was a quick mass, in and out in an hour. I was able to sit with his cousin for the entire time, so I wasn't alone, like I had originally thought I was going to be. It wasn't a bad experience at all. I surprisingly enjoyed myself. Right after church, we headed to our friend's volunteer firehouse and picked up Chancho's Christmas tree. He supported the firehouse this year, instead of getting one from my father. Chancho decided that he's going to alternate years so no one gets their feelings hurt.

Quote of the Day: "When you're a kid, it's simple. Christmas is magic. It's a time of miracles, when reindeer can fly, and Frosty never melts. Then you get older. Somehow, things change. The magic begins to fade. Until something happens that reminds you at Christmas time... miracles still can be found. Sometimes in the most unexpected places." - The Wonder Years

M&M Trees

We had our first snowfall! and it actually stuck to the ground and all of the cars. While I was at work yesterday it snowed all day long. Only 2 inches stayed, but still there is still snow outside. I finally feel like it's winter time. In the spirit of it feeling like winter I actually went out Christmas shopping. Instead of buying something unique for every individual in the extended family I decided upon something very simple and inexpensive. The Container Store sells these wonderful jars in the shape of trees. They come in two different sizes. A large and a small. All of my cousins will get a small one and my aunts/uncles and grandmothers will get a large one. I'm going to fill them with M&M's. Each "branch" will be a layer of red and green, alternating. Sam's Club will be a huge help in providing me with a bulk package of the two colors and for a great price. The great part about these jars is that the tops have a suction piece to them so that when you open the jar all of the M&M's don't come flying out at you.

I'm going to wrap them in cellophane so that they can see them and I won't waste boxes or bags. I'll be tying them off with this ribbon. I'm excited to see how they turn out.

Now that I have the extended family shopped for, all that is left is the immediate family. For some reason I always find them harder to shop for.

Listening to: "A New York Christmas" by Rob Thomas

And The Winner Is....

This is the outfit that I picked out for the holiday party that is this upcoming Wednesday. I'm hoping to find a necklace that has red in it to make it more of a holiday outfit, but I think that even if I don't this will do just fine. I'm still searching for the right pair of shoes, but I have a ton of black shoes that I'm sure one will go. I'm also debating on whether or not I should wear some sort of black patterned stockings?

According to Chancho a lot of his buddies are bailing on the party so he doesn't even want to go anymore, but will go to show his face to the bosses. We won't be attending the after party either because he has court the next morning. It wouldn't be too great if he showed up to court with a hangover. I too have work early the next day.

Starting tomorrow, I'll be going to church to watch Chancho sing in the choir. I'm not sure if it will be a regular thing for me, he is Catholic and I am not. I commend him for doing this. He has a great voice and he really should be using it. Plus the fact that it is getting him to go to church. On that note, I'm going to bed so I won't be late for church tomorrow morning.  

Quote of the Day: "May the love hidden deep inside your heart find the love waiting in your dreams. May the laughter that you find in your tomorrows wipe away the pain found in your yesterdays."

Tis the Season!

I began my first round of Christmas decorations today. This is the first year in 4 years that I am home before Christmas Eve to decorate. Unfortunately in the past years we haven't had the time to decorate and it didn't look like Christmas at all in the house. I took it upon myself to bring it back this year. I hadn't realized how out of control the attic was with all of the decorations scattered around so a lot of my time was focused on cleaning it up. I now have 3 huge boxes of Christmas items that are ready to be brought to a tag sale or donated somewhere. Sadly, that took up so much time that I didn't get to finish all of the decorating. I am also waiting to put up the tree for another day, once everything else is finished. Hopefully this Sunday or Monday will be that day. Here are some pictures of what was put up.

This is over our fire place, that is used everyday to heat our house. (the stockings will hang there later.)

Some garland over the entryway to the dining room.

A mini village in the dining room. I'm working on finding lights to light the inside of the houses.

Some outside decorations. I plan to put garland around the doors with white lights.

More garland going up the stairs. 

A tiny manager set on the living room table.

These next three are decorations from Germany. My family sent them over as gifts a couple years back.

This one actually spins once the candles are lit.

That's all for now. I'll post more as I decorate.

Quote of the Day: "Live, but not out of fear or hate, live out of love."

Police Shift

I thought I'd share this cool website, courtesy of my cousin, PoliceShift. She started this business on her own after attending school. It is a place for active off-duty officers and retired officers to go to sign up for extra shifts. My uncle is a retired police officer and has been participating in this and he is very happy with the shifts that he has been able to pick up. I figured that if anyone has the need to pick up extra shifts this would be a good way to find them. You just register (free) and fill out a bunch of general information and then you're contacted. Chancho has just signed up. You can pick the amount of money that you want to get paid in general and then in some instances the merchant that contacts you will ask you to pick your price as well. If anyone in your area needs security and is signed up you have a greater chance of being called. Give it a look, see if it's something your PO would be interestd in.

First Day of being a DVO

Chancho started his job as the Domestic Violence Officer (DVO) today. He went in at 9am and got out at 5pm. Unheard of! His response to how did he like it? "I love it!" I asked him if this was something like on the first day of class and you like your teacher, but then 3 weeks later you hate it and you want to switch out of it. He insists that he likes it and he has a good feeling about it. This is the first time that he says that he feels responsible and important. He's excited, I can hear it in his voice and he's overall happier. I mean he did get to sleep for the first hour that he was there. Which isn't really that unusal, but I thought it being his first day he wouldn't get away with that. He was lucky that his partner was late getting to work. I did find out though that there is no such thing as being late with you're a DVO. You do make your own schedule so if you can't make it in at 8am you can just call and say when you will be in. (This may get him into trouble.)
Chancho's day consisted of learning the ropes of the new position. He usually will have to get 20 summonses a month, instead it now will have to be family visits. He was introduced today to a few families by his new partner. He really enjoyed dipping his toes into it all. A cool thing that he didn't have before, an office. He shares an office with 2 other officers. He'll be receiving his key tomorrow.
The greatest thing so far is of course the fact that he can pick his own hours. I put in to switch my availablity at work today. I opened up a few days for my schedule and told them I couldn't work Saturday afternoons now that he gets Saturdays off. We'll see if they will accept that. Ultimately I'd like to be able to have Saturdays but I think I'll ease into that.
This seems to be great. We'll see how it turns out, afterall it is only the first day and I don't want to get my hopes up too high. We all know that is never a good thing, yet we can't help but have a good feeling.

Birthday Weekend

Sunday was my birthday celebration, Monday being my actual birthday, but since it was a weekend evening it was planned for Sunday. Chancho sent out an invitation and got everyone together for it. He even was able to sneak in a few people that I didn't know were going to show up. It was located at a local bar. He gets "happy hour" specials. This is a deal where you can get $2 drinks for 2 hours. This way those who don't have that much money can still come out and have a few and even buy me some drinks and not empty their wallets out completely. It's a win-win situation. The surprise guests were my parents, my father's cousin, and my godparents/aunt and uncle. It was a great surprise. They were able to stay for the majority of the night too. It started early enough that people were able to stay and hang out without missing out on any sleep for work the next day. I however had the next day off so I was able to stay out with Chancho and a coworker for a bit longer. We took a trip to a gay club that opened that night and stumbled upon a waiter that we always get when we go out to eat at our regular restaurant. It was quite the night.

Monday, birthday day, was very relaxing. My parents took me out to lunch at a new Asian restaurant. Then Chancho and I spent the day in watching tv and resting up from the previous night. We then traveled to a friends house for cake. I think this was a better birthday than last years just because I was home with family and friends. Last year I had to travel back to school on my birthday, an 8 hour ride on a bus. It was not the ideal trip for a birthday. So here's to another year and making it the best that I can!

Quote of the Day: "Surround yourself with people you love being yourself with."