Happy Birthday to my daughter! and me! and BOOOOOOOO to the Olathe police department

We had a lovely family party last night for Elizabeth! 9 years old. unbefreakinglieavable. I'm feeling very very very old today. MY birthday is tomorrow, so I'll officially be older as well. Last night was great! We had a house full of family, Jeff and the boys came as well as my brother and his wife and new baby, aunts, cousins and my folks. OH and a whole bunch-a chicken! mmmmmmmmm. Stroud's fried chicken. I got a few cards with $$ from the folks that WILL be spent on something special. My kids gave me some beautiful hand-made cards and Jeff gave me a card with a coupon for one dinner and an evening out on the town with no children. Babysitting $$ for my kids is included in the deal. We're heading out somewhere tomorrow night, so I'm going SHOPPING to get a new cute top to wear with my black skirt. Beth got TONS of craft crap, plus a small weaving loom and yarn from Jeff and the boys, SAND ART from my brother (which I WILL remember this when his little baby is older, maybe that little guy will need a drum set? bwa ha ha haaaaa), a cool diary with keys and stickers and the like, and the felted hat from me, as well as toys and more crap. She was in heaven!

You know my cute little stories about getting out of tickets occasionally? I really really REALLY shouldn't complain as they always say payback's a biotch, but I'm gonna pout anyway as THIS time it sucked. I GOT TOTALLY SCREWED yesterday afternoon! I was taking Mur-Len from 151st up to 119th. I'd gotten my "toes did" so I was driving carefully ANYWAY. I was going 44 in what I believed to be a 40 mph zone. BUT the city of Olathe police apparently had to make some extra $$ and had a speed trap set up. I get flagged down and sent to the curb. I'm like WTF? I pull up right under the 40mph sign and park. I ask the nice policeman what the heck is going on? Why was I pulled over for 4 miles over? OH, apparently the 10 orange cones they had set up to pull the road into 1 lane from 2 were not just a speed trap. There was "clear signage" stating it was a construction zone and 30mph. I said, "what signage?" and was told it was "clearly marked". There was not one sign of construction other than the 10 cones in the road. No trucks, no people wearing orange vests, no torn-up roads, only the 10 cones and a few policemen. I was ULTRA polite and explained that I may have been going 4 miles over the limit at the top of the hill, but am a good little single mother who abides by the laws and would NEVER speed in a construction zone. He asked for my license & registration and told me "happy birthday" when he saw my license and everything. He went back to the car, ran his little reports, and came back with a FREAKING TICKET for me to sign. I sign it, he tells me thank you for being so "cordial". I look at the ticket and see it's $180, ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FREAKING DOLLARS. That's my entire Christmas shopping budget this year. WTF? Seriously. I started crying. I get out of the car, tap the guy now radar-gunning other poor souls and ask him if this is a mistake, and he is snotty at me and says, "you break the law in a construction zone and put people's lives at risk and you pay the price." OH MY GOD. I'm in shock. IT WAS NOT A CONSTRUCTION ZONE!!!!!!!!!!!!! There were NO lives at stake except mine as I was contemplating trying out a karate move on the guy but thought I'd not make it in the county jail plus the whole "set a good example for the kids" thing.... Mommy can't volunteer at the book fair because she's doing hard time.... yeah. So I just cried. cried, cried, cried. Then I got pissed. "that motherfuxxer said happy birthday and thanked me for being cordial and THEN accused me of putting lives in danger?" OH no no no no NO

I drove back, took a picture of the "clear signage" which of course there was a damn sign, I just didn't see it. I then contemplated going back and parking before the trap and waving to people to slow down until the police removed me but I had to go pick up the kids from school. I'm going back today and if if they're doing their thing, I've got a sign on posterboard that says "SPEED TRAP" and I'm gonna go hold it up dammit. (I do realize that if I added up the FEW times I've been pulled over without a ticket they would probably add up to $180, but it's the principle of the matter. THIS time I was INNOCENT.)

OH and my secret pal is a freaking GENIUS! A few packages back, she sent me a dentist's tool with the rest of the goodies. I thought what the heck would I ever use this for? and now I know. OH MY HOLY HECK, get yourself one if you don't have it yet. It is the BEST thing EVER for lighter weight yarns for picking up stitches, doing the slip over and through join for making a smoother join on circ or dp needles, and I UNBELIEVABLY helpful with making socks. Now that I'm branching off on lighter weight yarns occasionally, it's a godsend. Thank you sp! I also cast on some of the beautiful arcadia yarn for the bottom of Knitty's french market bag. Starting the bottom was a bit like trying to knit with a porcupine with the needles still attached to the fighting creature, but once I got a few stitches on there, it was totally worth it as it's looking very cool.