Wow. The freaks are certainly coming out in Polk County, Florida – Bartow in particular. I just wrote about Isaac Nathan Tillis, the Bartow High School math teacher who was just arrested this week for trying to trade grades for oral sex with a 16-year-old girl.

Now, the headlines are shouting about John Stelmack. He is the principal of the Scott Lake Elementary School in Polk County, Florida. Fancy that.

The 60-year-old Stelmack was suspended with pay from the school district after the local police opened an investigation into his involvement in child pornography and his conduct around the students at his school. He was arrested today after deputies found pictures of a naked woman with the head of a 10-year-old female student from his school superimposed into the photo. The student no longer attends Scott Lake Elementary and is now a student at a local middle school.

The sheriff’s office became involved after school district official searched Stelmack’s office and found a briefcase with photos of naked women made to look like children.

He has been charged with five counts of possession of child pornography, and bail will be set at $100,000. Detectives are serving a search warrant at his home, and further charges could be filed if anything is found.

All of this makes me even more determined to make a difference when I begin teaching, I am proud to have earned my certification and can only hope that by determining to protect my own students earnestly, I can head off at least one horrific situation like the ones we have seen in Polk County this week.

Have you seen any of the Donkey Ollie animated episodes? You can see some of them online at the Car Angels website. My daughter and I love The Adventures of Donkey Ollie. Gigi especially loves the songs. I love the unabashed Christian messages. The best thing about these inspirational cartoons is that they are provided absolutely free of charge to churches, schools, and other youth organizations like day cares and preschools. They don’t even have to pay shipping.

Why are they free? Donkey Ollie is just one of the charitable projects that are fully funded by the Car Angel and Boat Angel. I’m sure you have heard of these organizations. I often hear radio commercials where someone is asking, “where can I donate my boat or car?” Funded by donations of boats, cars, RVs, campers and other vehicles, Car Angel produces Children’s Animation DVDs and an anti-drug documentary starring a score of skateboarding greats. They also place literature in prisons and fun other projects.

Check out Donkey Ollie. I imbedded a clip below this post. You can see more on the organization’s website. And, remember to tell anyone who has an old vehicle they want to get rid of or wants to donate boats or other maybe an RV or plane, that Car Angel will come anywhere in the US and tow it away for you, as well as providing you with the necessary paperwork to take a tax deduction.

If you ask me, Isaac Nathan Tillis thought he was living life in a porn movie. I mean, what logical person really thinks they can be a schoolteacher and try to trade grades for sexual favors? No, really – does anyone with two feet planted firmly on the ground actually believe that anymore?

The Bartow High School math teacher was arrested on solicitation of sex charges this week for trying to trade a blow job for a better grade. And, it turns out that in years past he has been accused of inappropriate behavior with students before in Polk County, Florida.

In fact, Tillis was actually suspended with pay from Bartow High in November 2004 after two female students accused him of misconduct. One girl said Tillis tried to kiss her and passed her a suggestive note. The other girl said Tillis kissed her on the cheek when he was tutoring her.

Creepy.

In the end, those charges were ruled unfounded and Tillis was allowed to teach in Polk County again. Keep in mind, he had only been teaching there since 2003, so after a mere year he felt confident enough to allegedly accost students.

Even after being caught with his pants down by police, he has been suspended with pay until Polk County school district can conduct an investigation after the winter break. One can only hope that when this guy finally sees the inside of a jail cell for the long term, he will be on the other end of the situation when his new cell mate (and by default, his new boyfriend) informs him he can earn extra protection in exchange for oral sex.

I just talked to my former boss. He calls sometimes to pass along a bit of freelance design work for different projects. I love working for the guy, because after so many years designing things for him, I can almost read his mind when it comes to what he wants a graphic to look like in its finished state.

This call was a little different. He wants me to be a part of a team that will develop a computer network across three locations for a new company he is forming with a friend. I suppose this is because when I worked for his former company, we had so many problems with the issue of multiple locations and a single network. The network seemed to be down more often that is was actually in a productive state.

I’m doing some homework on the issue now and have been reading through the specs for the Uplogix Envoy Management Station, which enables web-based control of your entire network and all of its devices. That’s the direction I am going to pitch. Reports can be automatically sent via e-mail, access is secure, log management is automated, permissions are easy to manage, and it sends alarms on individual appliances. It actually does a lot more, but these are the features that struck me as applicable to the needs of the business based on my past experience.

The crux of issue is that if there is a problem in any location, it can be detected quickly and repaired from one central location. There is no need to send someone out to do fixes or have an expert on hand at each office.

I’m surprised sometimes how much I stay involved in business decisions even though I am technically taking this year to be home with my daughter.

I do not usually forward e-mails or post previously published stories in my blog, but this week my father forwarded me an e-mail that made me push back my computer chair, lean back, and have a long chuckle. So, without further fanfare, I give you The Dolls.

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about.

For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover.

In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife’s bedside.

She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totaling $95,000.

He asked her about the contents. “When we were to be married,” she said, ” my grandmother told me, the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll.”

The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness.

“Honey,” he said, “that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?”

“Oh,” she said, “that’s the money I made from selling the dolls.”

A Prayer…….
Dear Lord, I pray for Wisdom to understand my man;
Love to forgive him;
And Patience for his moods;
Because Lord, if I pray for Strength,
I’ll beat him to death,
Because I don’t know how to crochet.

I am still in my 30’s, but believe it or not I have been using anti-aging skincare products since I was about 29.

My grandmother, who passed away this past September, took me aside when I was about 11 and showed me how to apply moisturizer on my face and neck. She explained to me that it was important to begin taking care of skin while I was still young and to carefully monitor changes in my skin’s appearance as I grew older. I have been diligent about my skin ever since.

My grandmother lay in her casket looking amazingly young, even though she was 82. That woman had the skin of an angel and I am sure that in Heaven she looks even better – what with all that great lighting.

I look in the mirror and although I can see a difference in how I looked in my teens and early 20’s, I think all of the attention I gave my skin has paid off. I certainly look much younger than I actually am. My own daughter is four and she loves to watch me put on my makeup and complete my daily skincare regimen. I have a very light moistening that I allow her to use as she stands beside me. Sometimes she even likes to put on my moisturizing for me. We share some great quality times together and at the same time I am teaching her how to take care of her own beauty.

So, while it sometimes seems odd to me that I am using anti-aging products like MD Formulations and skinceuticals, the results are worth the effort and I know I will have a great pearl of wisdom to give my daughter.

I joined my local Freecyle group just after my daughter was born, so it has been going on 5 years now. I actually moderate several groups and used to volunteer as a group mentor, but when I was in school last year I id not have the time to do that anymore.

If you have not heard about Freecycle, here is a short explanation. It is a concept where you offer things you have around the house you might otherwise throw in the trash. Others do the same. Someone else who can use the item contacts you and you make arrangements to hand off said item.

When I moved the last two times I gave away hundreds of things such as Christmas trees, glassware, baby clothes, a bassinette, changing table, crib, toys, books, packing boxes, and the list goes on. I have also received a lot of great things from my local Freecyle group. A wooden rocking horse my daughter still loves come to mind, as well as one of my Maltese dogs. Plus, thanks to Freecycle members, I have actually had to buy very little in the way of clothing for Gigi in the last couple of years.

I see anything you can think of change hands on the mailing list. In the last hour alone I saw used cisco routers, glass door knobs, a massage table, and toys being offered on the list. And, there always seems to be someone who can use the items. As you move things around this Christmas, take a look and see what you might want to give away. Maybe your children got new toys and there is no room for the old ones. Perhaps your mom gave you a new microwave and the old one is going to sit unused.

Check out Freecycle.org to find your closest group.

My house is on the market. I cannot stress enough that this is not a good time to have to sell a house, but then the real estate industry took a nosedive exactly one month after we purchased our massive Albatross here in Florida and has not corrected in the least since. We have put off listing it for almost two years now, but I just cannot stand co-owning this house with my ex and have insisted that he comply with the court order and put it on the market this month.

My ex chose an agent that lives in the same neighborhood, which seemed like a good idea at first since she knows the area and the particular charms of our community. But, she is unwavering on her commission and I have not been happy with her repeated insistence that we do bits of work on the house here and there before she will even list it. Our house is stunning and relatively new. Keep in mind that her boyfriend is a handyman and thus far has procured a boatload of work out of our house, mostly because my ex is a sucker.

I am urging him to look for a new agent.

I plugged our zip code into the ePERKS.com website and came up with a real estate agent who says he offers 15.5% cash back. Essentially, he is offering a percentage of his commission back at closing. While browsing through agent listings in other areas, I saw people offering even higher percentages and even perks like cruise tickets and flight tickets.

ePERKS also has a section that lists car dealers and home improvement providers, also offering perks to incite you to choose their services.

The girl cannot seem to catch a break. Our local lush is still in the slammer after her drunken romps around town that finally ended in a squad car where she offered a cop a blow job and then promptly hurled all over the back of the car. Classy chick, huh?

Anyway, her hearing that was scheduled for today was recently moved to January, which means she will pass Christmas while still behind bars.

On the tail of her arrest came the announcement that a hardcore sex tape featuring the American Idol finalist has surfaced and will be released by Vivid Entertainment on January 30. A teaser video is actually available online now that shows her driving her car while talking about sex, flashing a breast, in the bathtub, taking a shower, having sex with a man believed to be her boyfriend at the time, and commenting on other American Idol Season Four contestants.

The latest in a line of horrific luck on Sierra’s part is the tidbit that she is allegedly pregnant with the child of a smalltime rap artist. Reports say that Sierra has been placed on a “pregnancy diet” at Tampa’s Falkenburg Road Jail.

For a girl behind bars, she is doing a great job of staying in the public spotlight. If you believe the old adage that no publicity is bad publicity, then Sierra has big things in her future. Merry Christmas, Jessica. I hope the prison turkey and stuffing is tastey.

My daughter’s school has a fun tradition. On the last day of classes before the Christmas break, all of the kids come to school in their pajamas. The day is filled with games and parties. Actually, they still have chapel first thing, since it is Friday, but after that – games and parties. Each class has the chance to go to the gym and sit sipping hot cocoa while the Pastor reads Christmas stories for them.

I cannot even describe accurately how cute it was to see 18 pre-schoolers rolling around on the floor of their classroom this morning when I dropped off Gigi. It was sort of like a warm pile of puppies. I had briefly considered bringing my camera with me when I left the house this morning and sure wish I had listened to my initial instinct.