2022 In Review

In past years I have primarily stuck to books and maybe my video games, basically trying to keep it about books. This year I am not going to do that, because I want to include those other things that make me who I am and honestly, I really feel like sharing. This year has actually found me reading several books that I have already read several times; I call them my ‘go to comfort books’. I read the entire New Species series by Laurann Dohner (she is an awesome writer). I also read a few Desire, Oklahoma books from Leah Brooke again and a few others. I guess it was easier to go them because reading something new is sometimes hard especially since the fog started lifting.

For those who don’t know what the fog is, it is basically this time frame where you are just numb and to get through each day you do the most basic and/or easiest things you can do, for some it’s going to work, cooking or sleeping all the time, anything to keep you mind busy even while you are still dealing the pain and heart ache. It’s how our brains and bodies try to cope with those traumatic moments and when that fog lifts and you feel like you’re waking up it feels like you’re trying to catch up with everything. That where I am and I sometimes wish for the fog to come back, granted I was just a weepy then as I am now. I do feel like I have improved some, not much but some. I still can’t deal with car crashes. I still see the car Shanny was in and her blood on the ground in my mind every time I see a crash. It turns out lots of blood triggers some stress and anxiety, I discovered this when I had to renew my First Aide card and the video showed a lot of fake blood and it was awful, all I saw in my head was the picture of Shanny under a tarp with her blood on the ground, I had to leave the room for a bit. On the improvement part I can deal with sirens for about 5 minutes before my brain goes where it shouldn’t.

I think the biggest improvements happened after Doug and I went to a DUII Conference with our friends from MADD and found some focus on what we want to do to help prevent other people’s children from be murdered like Shanny and her friend Jake were. That weekend we learned that Kevin Gomez was released from supervised probation and he had barley been out of prison for a year, so not only did the state let him out of prison early but they removed him from supervised probation. We were so angry, still are but we are going to fight to save others from the hell that was rained down on us. Doug wants to see our state get mobile testing units like the ones in Arizona and I want to do victim impact statements any where that either teaches or employs CDL drivers and I plan on do a victim impact statement as soon as our City Counsel starts in person meetings again. I think I want to go to the local schools as well. Will it make a difference? If I don’t try then I will never know.

I was more productive in 2022 then I have been since July 2015 as far as writing reviews go, I promised myself that I would try harder to write at least one review a month and I got every month but one and some months have more then one review so that is an improvement that I am thrilled with. I have the same goal going into 2023 and hope to be at a point where I can write 2 reviews a month in 2024. I do have a new goal for 2023 for my blog, I want to do at least 2 virtual interviews with authors, I miss that and really want to do that again, the authors I have talked to in the past were so nice and it will be cool to talk to some more, and it would be amazing if I could get one of my favorite authors to agree to one.

Now that I have talked your ear off about everything else (thank you for that) I will get to the nitty gritty of the year in books based on my reading challenge on Goodreads.

My goal was 25 books, granted I felt I was over estimating myself at the time and honestly thought it was a hopeless goal. I surprised myself by reading 31 books, granted like I said early some of those were books I had read before. Out of those 31 books about half of them have reviews written for them, posted on my blog. Those 31 books equaled 4,670 pages read, that’s really not a lot of pages but I will take it because it proves I read something and something is better than nothing.

My average book length was 150 pages and my average star rating for the year was 3.7, I will strive to find more 4 and 5 star books.

My first review of the year was Second Love

The shortest book I read this year was The Troublesome Mail Order Bride

The longest book was Feral Sins

This one is always one of my favorites to learn and that is which of the books I read has the highest rating on Goodreads and this year that goes to Valiant by Laurann Dohner, I love that since Valiant is one of my favorites in the series.

Now here is the tricky one; Goodreads says my last review of the year if for Wicked Cravings but that is not the case, it is the last book of the year that I read but I wrote the review years ago. So, I honestly am not sure a little irritated with that one because that is a lie. My last posted review is actually Finding A Home by A. B. Lee, I just posted the review today, I had recorded it read on Goodreads but needed more time to write the review (With December being Shanny’s Birthday month and add in the Holidays I am sure you can understand the struggle), so my apologies for that piece of misinformation.

I think that covers most of the essentials of my year in books, there are a few other tidbits but I have already virtually talked your ear off so I will share the link to my year in books page so you can check out the rest if you like and find links to the books that interest you.

Link my year in books 2022

Goodreads

And It Begins

I had thought about this in my head for sometime and kept putting it off because I knew that if I started this one, I would wouldn’t be sleeping and there for not driving for a few days. Now it’s Veterans Day weekend and I am missing Shanny so much that I just can’t put it off any longer. She should be here either still serving her country or home enjoying a weekend of appreciation the Veterans should actually be getting daily, not just one weekend a year. Weekend that many people take as a license to party leaving me wonder how many people died like Shanny did this weekend.

With election day over and the harassment from Politian’s tapering off I want to say I am deeply disappointed in many of the outcomes from this election. We won’t discuss my disappointment my disappointment in the fact we are stuck with a democratic tampon in the Governors spot, thanks to the twitterpated voters of Multnomah County. No, I am angry that so much focus is put on gun control but not on stopping DUII crashes. People have been murdered daily by DUII drivers and yet the only thing the Politian’s can focus on is gun control. That is so hypocritical, you can’t say you care about human lives when it comes to guns and not deal with the other.

2022 is almost over and I am feeling disheartened by how little I seem to have accomplished in the goal I set last April at the DUII Conference. I had learned so much and came to the conclusion that I want to do victim impacts statements for school bus drivers and other CDL holders. We not exempt from making bad choices and they should be required to listen to victim impact statements. Before you ask why I will tell you. If a CDL driver makes a mistake or a bad decision while in their commercial vehicle someone can and/or will die. In the case of a school bus driver not only will somebody out side the bus be seriously injured/killed but the children on the bus could be injured. It is hard enough for School bus drivers to do their jobs with all those distractions the transporting up to 50 kids can bring throw in driving impaired and you have a potential major disaster on your hands. Having victim impact panels going in and talking with CDL drivers and saying “HEY YOU ARE NOT EXEMPT FROM THE RULES” could not only save a life but prevent a Commercial Driver losing their CDL privileges.

I called several truck driving schools and nothing, one actually told me they don’t have issues with impaired drivers, well of course not they are in school not on the road yet. One school said they would discuss it and get back to me and nothing. It is very discouraging to think that they seem to not put much value on what could happen after their drivers leave their schools. As trainers you would think they would want to protect their reputations, because if it is anything like school bus training that reputation could be called into question anytime something goes wrong, it why when I was train new school bus drivers, I made sure to be as thorough as possible, the last thing I wanted was for someone to ask me why I didn’t cover something in training.

My regional manager gave me the go ahead to put something together for maybe a start up meeting but that it had to be a one-person thing because of proprietary considerations. Which sucked because there are people that could come and add something that I don’t know. When I sent him my power point of what I had done so far for feedback he never responded and that is just plain wrong given what we do and how many CDL drivers are violating the standards we all work by. You can’t tell that it doesn’t matter or that it isn’t important when it clearly is. Especially when you bounce back to the whole reputation thought process. School bus companies base their reputations on students first and safety. Having drivers getting DUII’s whether it is in their own vehicle or a bus can damage the reputation of the company, it will have people questioning the hiring policies and background checks. Being proactive with training about driving impaired, doing victim impacts and information what substance cause impairment could potentially reduce the risks and save lives.

You also can’t tell me that gun control is more important than stopping impaired drivers, really why is death by gun more important than death by impaired driver, both are equally traumatic and brutal but why is one more focused on then other, why do people care so little for those murdered by impaired drivers, shoot, even the impaired driver doesn’t care that they killed someone, they don’t own what they did and try to get out of any punishment that they rightfully deserve. The victims and survivors of impaired drivers are further victimized and harassed for even wanting justice for what was done.

I am feeling pretty discouraged about I how little progress I have made but there is a bright spot that will keep me pushing along. A Carlton City Council member (up for re-election) came to my door, with another person looking for write in votes and I told her I was frustrated with something going on in our area and ready to go to a council meeting and do a victim impact statement there and point out that our police officers would be better off looking for impaired drivers then harassing local citizens about what is parked in front of their homes because of some pathetic outdated complaint-based ordinance.  The council member thought it was a great idea for me to do come to a meeting and give my impact statement. It gave me hope that something good could still happen, that is if they let me say what I need to say. I guess we will just have to wait and hope, but it will also be a start.

2021 Reading Wrap Up

I love participating in Goodreads annual book challenge, it is fun and a great way to keep track of cool facts in my reading history. My goal for 2021 was to read 30 books thinking it was an attainable goal because I had beat my 2020 goal of 20 books by reading 32 books. Sadly, I succeeded in reading 19 books in 2021. Now for the interesting facts about some of the books that I read that Goodreads shared and 1or 2 facts of my own added in for fun.

Total pages read in 2021
2,813

Average book length in 2021
148

My average rating for 2021
3.1 stars

My first review of 2021
Sweet Royal Beginnings by Lizabeth Scott

The longest book I read
Hybrid Rejected by Romy Lockhart
496 pages

The shortest book I read
Sweet Royal Beginnings by Lizabeth Scott
51 pages

The most popular Goodreads book I read. Is on 5,382 other people’s shelves
My Second Chance Mate by Anna Gonzales

The least popular Goodreads book I read. Is on 5 other people’s shelves
The Alphas Unwanted Mate by Jane D. Coffey or Charlotte Stockdale

The highest rated book on Goodreads that I read
Scarlett by Shelly Ferguson

I gave 3 books 5-star reviews

My last review of 2021
In Name Only by Vivian Rose Lee

Books I read in 2021 written by one of my favorite authors
Mission: Guardian Angel (Veslor Mates #2) by Laurann Dohner

Books I read in 2021 that I have read several times since purchasing it
In Name Only by Vivian Rose Lee

My reading goal for 2022 is 25 books, wish me luck.

Misinformation?

Misinformation?

I have some honest to goodness questions and I would like some honest to goodness answers.

How is it that social media is the cause of all the misinformation when a lot of what is posted are real stories from real people?

How is it misinformation when a mother tells us (I know this story to be true) that her son died in the hospital then was told he died of Covid only to have a coroner tell her he did not die of Covid? They showed the coroner report to the hospital who refused to changed the cause of death. Who is spouting misinformation there, the parent or the hospital?

They say the Vaccines are safe oh but there are proven risks, yet our government is demanding we all get the jab. How is that misinformation?

How is being forced to take an experimental drug with unknown long term consequences misinformation? Do you know the long-term consequences? If so, can you enlighten the rest of us.

The pharmacies are making billions on these mandates is that misinformation?

Can you explain exactly what the misinformation about Covid is? And how you know it is misinformation?

How do you know that the news companies are not spreading government propaganda?

Do you know for a fact who is telling the truth about Covid and who is not, to tell us what is misinformation?

Reading APPs Are Not Worth The Time

While surfing through Facebook I have noticed these stories and I have checked them out but you get to the end of the teaser and to finish the book you need a reading APP like Dreame or iReader. So, I checked them out, why not? I have nothing better to do with my free time. I get into a few chapters and I have to “recharge” in other words purchase the app’s coins to continue the story and support the author of the story.

I get supporting the author, it’s why I write reviews and purchase books (especially from my favorite authors). But I don’t get why I should pay more to read a badly edited book than I would for an edited book from one of my favorite authors. Don’t get me wrong, some of the story lines are pretty cool and I think they could make money on them in a more legitimate manner, if they take the time to either edit them or find someone to help them with edits. In fact, when I see those stories on Facebook I do check to see if they been published and are a available in e-book form. I found 2 but, they were very over priced $9 each and very poorly edited just like the APP version, it’s a shame because they have potential.

The APP’s like the above mentions are not even worth the download time and I certainly am not willing to spend money again on any of these apps. Especially, when I have to spend the APP coin a second time on a chapter, I have already read but wanted to go back to for clarification on something. I will just WAIT and see if the authors actually edit and publishes their books, then I will be happy to consider purchasing and reviewing their books, because some of them have some real potential and may be worth it. I am just not willing to ripped off on an unedited, disorganized story from those apps when I can spend my hard-earned money on a decently written e-book by authors who care about how their stories are received by the public and want to earn an honest living.

Heaving Bosoms

Last week I was talking with my oldest daughter and she was telling me about how her and her ex-husband like drinking wine and reading my reviews. She was flabbergasted when I told her that the book, I just finished, had no sex scenes. Apparently, she did not realize that I read more than just “book porn” and she then went on about “heaving bosoms” and I have to tell you I was rather confused because I have never ever read the words ‘heaving bosoms” in any book I have ever read. This conversation went on for several minutes and she really wanted to see me post a review with the words “heaving bosoms” but this will be as close as she will get to me ever using that phrase again, especially, since I am still laughing about the conversation and I don’t think I will ever be able to write it again without laughing.

Happy Reading

Stuck at Home

Happy Thursday Everyone

As we stay at home wondering what is going to happen next and looking for things to pass the time, I thought I would share a few links where you can sign up to receive list of books that are either on sale for really cheap or even free. Since free is always a good thing on a dwindling budget I thought these would be helpful sites. Mostly they are site for signing up for mailing list but a few are normal site with links to free or really inexpensive books.

Freebooksy

Digital Book Today

Booksends

Book Shark

I Love Vampire Novels

The are several genres and I have even come across some kids books for my grandkids so I hope you find these links useful.

If you know of and other such sites please post a comment sharing those sites

Happy Reading

2019 In Review

It is time for my end of the year wrap up and since GoodReads and Nintendo were kind enough to wrap up 2019 for me, I thought I would share both with you.

I bet you are all surprised that I even own a gaming system but I do, actually I own a Switch and a 3DS. I used to play a lot of Nintendo as a teenager but kind of out grew it, only playing when my son invited me to play. Then Shanny was killed and I started struggling with a lot of different things so my son handed me his 3DS with a game called Fire Emblem Awakening and I got hooked and it helped me deal with large groups of people playing those games while talking to people. Now I have my own 3DS and a Switch both of which go with me everywhere. When we come up on anything while driving somewhere, they take my focus off the road so I can get through it and in large groups I can be involved but not. Weird right?

Ok enough of that, back to my year in books and video games.

My Year In Books According To GoodReads

My reading goal this year was 20 books but I fell short of that goal by 4 books☹

I read 16 books equaling 2,226 pages😊 at least I got to read something.

The shortest book I read was Impossible by Allyson Young which also happened to be the least popular book this year with only 16 readers in total.

The longest book I read was Black Hills Angel at 395 pages and probably the most boring book I read all year.

The most popular book I read on Good Reads this year was Cowboy Heat by Sable Hunter with 8,054 readers, I can see why as it is one of my favorite reads (I think I have read 4 or 5 times). It truly is an amazing story.

My average review rating was 3.4 stars

The highest rated book on GoodReads that I read this year was RNWMP: Bride for Joel by Amelia C. Adams

My first review of the year was on Stephanie’s Homecoming by Debbie Bailey, I gave it 4 stars

My last book of the year that received only 1 star was Stony Creek Cowboy by Taylor Berke.

I read one book by my all time favorite author that I am sure I will read again, that book was The Gorison Traveler Incident (Veslor Mates #1) by Laurann Dohner.

Even though I did not reach my reading goal I still had a pretty good year in books and am looking forward to more books in 2020.

My Year In Nintendo according to Nintendo

According to Nintendo I am a Nintendo loyalist based on how I play…. Very cool.

The games I played the most, out of the 6 I actually played, in order were Fire Emblem 3 Houses, Fire Emblem Warriors and Spyro.

I logged 449 hours of playing time most of that taking place in August and September.

I earned 486 gold points that now have to figure what to do with because I am sure I can not transfer them to my son ☹

In addition to reading and video games I logged an hour or two of crocheting and many, many hours at the dreaded day job and or sleeping. I also logged 2 weeks recovering from 2 surgeries at once (yes, I requested to have them both done at once and yes, I am a little crazy).

 I was constantly behind in posting book tours and writing reviews, so I spent many weekends playing catch up.

Over all I have to say I didn’t get everything I wanted done, done but I gave it my best efforts.

In 2020 I will work hard to reach my reading goal and keep up with posting book tours and I would really love to do virtual interviews some authors. I would also like to finish the blanket I started to crochet and finish the diamond painting project I started 2 years ago. I also thinking it would be cool to beat my gaming records from this year, so wish me luck as I wish you luck for your goals.

Happy Reading

4 Years Ago, Today

4 years ago, today at about 9 am my son and I picked a very excited Shanny up from the airport. She was happy to be home, she missed so many things about home and she was so excited. She missed Dutch Bros coffee and being surrounded by green. California just didn’t have enough green and San Diego didn’t have Dutch Bros but she was happy with San Diego because it was closer to home then some of the places she could have been stationed and it had sunshine. She was excited to see her friends, some of whom would have been camping out in my house for some of the time she was home. She was excited to attend the wedding of her cousin and then the wedding of one of her friends. She was excited to go on the road trip Doug and I had been planning for months.

4 years ago, today Jerod and I had our last trip with Shanny to Dutch Bros. 4 years ago, today Doug, Jerod and I had our last lunch date with Shanny. 4 years ago, today I took my last pictures of Shanny.

  4 years ago, today at around 5 pm, Jake Wright was driving my daughter, Shanny, home after hanging out for a few hours when two stoned unlicensed teenagers, Kevin Milanez-Gomez and Dianna Muniz, who supposedly took the car without consent, barreled through a clearly marked stop sign murdering both Shanny and Jake.

  Today life is different.

 Today I know DA Brad Berry is a liar and that DDA Alicia Eagan is no better, they both should be investigated and disbarred. I know that only one of my daughter’s killers is in jail serving 6.3 years (5 years if you count time off) for killing 2 people and the other is living it up like she did nothing wrong.

Today I wait. I wait for the parole notice so I can try and stop Kevin Milanez-Gomez from getting out of prison early. I wait for the police to enact policies that ensure citations are written for crashes where a death is involved. I wait for the day the Brad Berry is kicked out of the DA’s office for his lack of moral character. I wait for the legal system to wake up and punish Dianna Muniz for her part in Shanny and Jake’s deaths. I wait for Gabriela Gomez to admit to lying to protect her son from punishment for the crimes he committed. I am waiting for Kevin and Dianna to each actually grow a conscience and own their actions.

Today I watch. I watch my family dealing with the loss of her the best way they can. I watch Facebook and see that Dianna still lives her life like she never killed anyone or was even in a car that killed someone. I watch life going on around me wishing the Shanny was able to be a part of it. I watch the rosebush planted at the memorials finally blooming.

 Today I hug a box that contains Shanny’s ashes and I write to her in a journal where I also put every Dutch Bros sticker that I collect every month for her.

Today I still cry every time one of her favorite songs plays or I see pictures of her. I cry because I miss her voice. I cry because I miss watching Vampire Diaries and Coyote Ugly with her. I cry for the life she should have had. I CRY because I miss her so much, I can’t contain the pain of her not being here.

  Today I talk about our experience with anyone that will listen in the hopes that what happened to us never happens to another family. I talk about our experience with anyone that will listen hoping that better police procedures will be enacted to ensure investigations aren’t mishandled. I talk about our experience with anyone who will listen in the hopes that people with honor and better moral character will replace Brad Berry. On this I could go on and on.

 Tomorrow I will continue to cry. I will continue to wait. I will keep watching. I will continue to speak out. I will continue to write to Shanny.

Hello Readers

I want to apologize for not getting all my posts out this week, I ate something on Monday (While on the way home from Arizona) that didn’t settle well and had me hitting every rest stop and gas station on the route home. It sufficiently kicked my ass that I wound up sleeping when I wasn’t working over the last few days. I am finally feeling better and will getting as much done as I can including the review I had been working on last weekend.

Happy Reading 

Thoughts and Updates

Hello Fellow Readers

I have been thinking a lot about my blog and what I have been doing with it lately and realized that with more and more tours to post that I want to create a separate page for them so that they have their own space and reviews will have their own space, kind of like newspaper sections. In addition, with all these tours so they get the focus I think they deserve, I am contemplating doing away with the daily release posts and only posting them when asked. I am not sure about it yet, I may just give them a section to.

I think I am sharing this for feed back and advice because changes like these can come with issues and outside opinions and advice may help me with the planning and transition.

Why?

Two years ago, today DDA Alicia Eagan stood up in front of Judge Stone and told him that she had no evidence or witnesses and that only half of the victims’ families and friends wanted a trial. In both cases she lied, there was only one family member from Jake’s family that didn’t want a trial. We were all ready to take it all the way to the wall and the DDA preferred to talk a big talk then turn around and stab the victims in the case in the back. DDA Alicia Eagan said she a tried a lot of cases like the crash that killed Shanny and Jake and that she could get a conviction that would be a Measure 11 sentence which would have been mandatory without parole. DA Brad Berry promised us he would settle for nothing less then a Measure 11 sentence and he to talked a big talk and didn’t keep his word. They should both be ashamed of themselves for being such dishonest public officials.

Here is the thing that really kills us, there was a street racing crash a few months later and someone died in that crash. The driver of the at fault car was sentenced to 12 years for first-degree manslaughter, the same measure 11 offense that Kevin Milanez-Gomez was charged with. The person in the street racing accident injured 2 people and killed one person and he got 12 years oh and his friend got just over six years for his part in the street race. While Kevin Milanez-Gomez only got just over six years with time off for good behavior for killing 2 people while driving without a license and under the influence of marijuana that he should never have had in the first place because he was 17 years old and blowing threw a stop sign. The Sheriff’s office didn’t even issue any tickets DUII, MIP or reckless driving. The difference between the street racer case and Kevin’s case… One of the street racers victims’ (who happened to be in the racers car) mother work for the Yamhill County Court House… makes you think don’t it? Why did they give due diligence to one and not the other?

The there is of course Kevin’s accomplice in all of this, Dianna Muńiz. Based on her social media sites it is clear that the death of my child and her friend has done nothing to curb her parting and that she clearly could careless that she and Kevin took two lives and deprived families and friends of two special young people who deserved to live. I should not be surprised, after all she cared so little that she was willing to lie about smoking pot when asked about it for both her and Kevin and the legal system called her a victim even knowing that Dianna was in a car she knew she had no business being because she knew Kevin was unlicensed. Dianna should be in prison as well for her part in the deaths of Shanny and Jake.

Kevin and Dianna, why did you kill Shanny and Jake?

 

9/9/2018

I can’t decide on the order in which I want to write things which means I will probably be all over the map. I am sorry about that and hope it won’t be too confusing.

We had a really great visit with two of our kids this weekend, they were on leave from the Navy and visiting with family up here in Oregon. We feel very honored that they included us in their list of family to visit and even better, we were their first stop. I got to make homemade pizza and fry bread for them. I would have to say that was the best part of the last two weeks.

We went to a bar-b-que at the farm and some cousins from my husband’s side of the family were their and to be honest I hope I never see one of them again. This cousin started talking about how she had threatened to kick her kicks out if they got into drugs and how she did just that when she found drugs in their rooms. Then in the very next part of her topic of choice she talked about how she (of course she only smokes it in the evening) and her husband were pot smokers and he will drive under the influence when and I quote “you shouldn’t drive for 4 hours after smoking pot” (Really? Wow, somebody needs a better education in intoxicants and intoxication). I was sitting there listening to this and getting upset by the second and I finally just left. I sat in the truck away from that until my husband was ready to leave, yes, I was good with that, I had my computer and tablet and wasn’t going to ruin my husband’s fun (granted he wasn’t crazy with the cousin’s topic choice either). By the time we left I was calm enough to realize that she clearly did not know how Shanny was killed or any of the details. Because if she had I would like to think she would have avoided the topic all together.

I started getting sick last Thursday and today I feel marginally better, I think. Yesterday like the 8th day of every month left me sad and clocking just one more month that I haven’t seen or talked to Shanny. Don’t get me wrong, I do focus on other things and so does my husband but our youngest daughter as with my other kids is never far from my thoughts. Family functions are fun but there is always this sense of someone missing and it leaves a heavy, empty feeling in my heart. I still miss my phone going off around 8:30 every morning with either a phone call or a text message, makes me wonder why I even keep my stupid phone because it doesn’t ring as much as it used to. Shanny wasn’t happy unless she was texting or calling someone, anyone lol even me. Unless of course she was working out, I miss her every day.

The Day Shanny Died July 8, 2015

It’s hard to believe that it has been three years, it feels more like a lifetime since I last heard Shanny’s voice and yet it seems like the nightmare has just started. Every day I wish I could wake up from the nightmare to a happy smiling/laughing Shanny pushing me out the door to get a Dutch Bros coffee.

On July 8 2015 Jerod (my son) and I picked her up at from the airport at 8:50AM from there we proceeded to find the closet Dutch Bros so she could get her favorite coffee. She and Jerod each ordered an annihilator while I ordered a caramelizer, she was so excited and was Snap chatting everything as we went, including the fact that we got lost in Portland with the help of GPS. It took us nearly 2 hours to find our way back to a highway that would get us to Forest Grove in time to have lunch with my husband, Doug. We did make to Doug’s work by 11:30 for his lunch break.

Doug was expected home by 5 and her 3 best friends were going to be over at the same time and in the meantime, she was going to go run some errands with her friend Jake. Jake picked her up at around 12:30/1:00, I was washing my Jeep so she could drive it during the week. 2 of the girls showed up early and were waiting and Doug was home by 5 as expected. At about 5:15 pm the Fire Departments air-raid siren (that’s what I call it) went off indicating that something was going on, about this time, my daughter Kara showed up and the sirens from the emergency responders were loud and still going on. My daughter checked YAMCO Watch and learned there was an accident on Meadow Lake and Westside. By this time, we had started blowing up Shanny’s phone asking her where she was because Shanny would not be late without calling.

We figured that her and Jake had gotten caught in the traffic jam and would be a while and that Shanny had not answered her phone because the battery had died. At one-point Kara said one of the cars was red and I knew Jake’s car was red and I got to thinking that if it was them then they might need a ride and should go down and check on them and if they were just sitting in traffic, I would go find her. The 2 girls decided to come with while Doug and Kara opted to wait in case she came home, they would call. The three of us hoped in the car and head for Meadow Lake only to discover it was barricaded and the person who was watching it directed us to Chief Graven at another barricade when we explained what we were trying to do. Chief Graven knew who Shanny was but didn’t know she had come home but when I explained and told him what we were thinking he radioed for someone to relieve him so he could back down to the accident, telling us to stay where we were. We also continued in our task of trying to get Shanny to answer her phone.

Chief Graven came back up with a Yamhill County Officer who asked me a few questions and told us to keep trying to reach Shanny and Jake before going back down to the intersection where the crash was at. We sat there for nearly 2 hours before they came back and pulled me from the car. I remember saying “you’re going to tell me something I won’t like, aren’t you?” They showed me Shanny’s Military ID and her Driver’s license and told me she died; about this time the girls were running straight for me because they had just been told too.

My head went into overdrive and I knew I had to get to Doug and tell him, as we came down our street, I saw that the number of people at my house had grown because my father-in-law and my sister-in-law were there. I could hear them all screaming from 2 blocks away, they had been outside waiting. I went straight to Doug who had been lying down in our room. I remember yelling at my father-in-law to get the hell out of my way and out of my room because he was blocking my path to Doug.

We wanted to go down to the crash site and had gotten ready to do just that when the victim liaison person and some of my neighbors told us we shouldn’t and stopped us halfway towards the door. From there everything becomes a blur of snippets of things. I remember bits and pieces of things, I lived in a fog for over 6 months and sometimes that very fog takes over. She had only been home for 8 hours and her sister and other family members hadn’t even gotten to see her yet.

Carlton Fun Days and Shanny’s Run 2018

We had a very fun and yet incredibly busy weekend. With setting up the booth for Almost Better Than Crayons and Paper and getting everything together for Shanny’s Run. I made 6 runs into McMinnville for last minute things and last last minute things, including the candy for the parade. Everything went like clock work.

Shanny’s Run had 27 runners this year and sold a few t-shirts with all the proceeds going to the Shanny Foundation. Our sponsors were a great help in getting those t-shirts of which we still have a few for sell. I have already started planning for next years run.

Doug’s booth for Almost Better Than Crayons and Paper did well this year with 50% of his sells going to the Shanny Foundation. Doug had a lot of fun visiting with people and learning more as he talked art with others. I got to sit and watch him do his thing, and train our puppy, Trip, on proper etiquette in a park.

All in all a great weekend in a great community with amazing people.