When Life Gives You Fire…Make Smores? (part 1)

Hmm, I thought about writing about the recent fire that destroyed my mother’s house. I was going to make it password protected, but I am done trying to protect them from themselves.

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

1:47 AM I get a phone call. For a moment I think it is my alarm clock, I ignore it. 1:48 AM I get another phone call. I once again ignore it, but I do look at my phone, it is not a number I recognize at all. This time I get a voice mail, the voice does not sound at all familiar. As I am listening to the voice mail, not understanding what is being said, I get a beep from the number again. I decide to answer it.

“Jenna, the house is on fire I don’t know what to do.”

It is Scout, but it does not sound like her at all. I think maybe her and her friends are just messing with me or something, then she continues.

“I am at some ladies house I don’t know who she is.”

From her voice I realize she is not lying.  Holy shit. I ask her where Gage is. She doesn’t know. I tell her to find him then call me back. She calls back in less than two minutes. She tells me everyone got out of the house. She says she is worried what the police will do when they realize how drunk mom is….

…yeah, I was not surprised my mother was wasted. I ask Scout where she is. She says she is in an ambulance going to Primghar Hospital. Scout is not sure why Mom is being sent to the hospital. She has no idea where Robert is, but she does know he got out.

I am 110% awake now. I tell Scout I will call Kylee and see if she can go pick her ad Gage up. I live 50+ miles away from my Mom, Kylee is only 13 miles away from her. I call Kylee and get no answer. Then I call her husband, he answers the phone I say “Mom’s house is on fire, can I talk to Kylee.” He is not even awake but gives Kylee the phone. I explain to her what happened , she shoots awake. She agrees to go get the kids but she is going to stop at the hospital first.

I called Scout again, she seemed more collected so I asked her what happened. She said Mom started a fire in the ’smoking room.’ That is a room on the 2nd floor that they used to smoke in. She said once the fire started Mom woke her up. Scout didn’t believe Mom. Mom gets drunk and stupid on a nightly basis so I do not blame Scout. However, 30 minutes later Scout woke Gage up while  Mom was trying to put  a fire out with a gallon of milk and baking soda…even though there was a bathroom with perfectly working water about 10 ft away. (Milk and baking soda were all the way down stairs in the kitchen) From there everything happened very fast. There was smoke everywhere, my mom told Scout to call 911 because she could not dial or remember the number. Scout called in the fire.  The only thing Scout could think to grab was her glasses. Gage grabbed his shoes and some clothes and a blanket (lol, wtf) and after checking on Pocky, the dog, who was in the laundry room, they went outside.

Sometime during all this Robert woke up and got out of the house. Meanwhile my mom kept going back into the house to the room with the fire. Scout said she kept screaming for mom to come down, but mom would not listen she insisted on going back up there over and over again, she even fell down the stairs a few times. The police and fire dept showed up and got Mom out of the house and into an ambulance. Neighbors woke up and it was one of these neighbors that let Scout and Gage into her house to warm up and calm down. The other neighbors grabbed lawn chairs to watch the fire…That is about when Scout called me.

After hearing all about what had happened I was very grateful everyone got out,  however I was uncertain what was going on with my mother. I called Kylee back, she informed me that she was at the hospital with Mom. Mom was going to be transferred to Sioux City hospital, her blood alcohol level was very high, she had domestic bruises on her body, she was not being cooperative and kept saying she was sorry for setting the house on fire, she was fighting with everyone and would not put clothes on, she also was asked what medicines she was on to which she listed several and said she had to get them off the internet because she did not have insurance, she also had controlled substances in her system. I should mention she blamed the domestic bruises on her ten-year old son, later it was found out those bruises where from falling down the stairs multiple times.

I did not know what to even think about everything I was jus told about my mom. I knew she was an alcoholic, I did not know she was using controlled substances and pills. Kylee was off to get Scout and Gage, so I called Scout and talked to her some more. She was shaken up and I think in a state of shock. Gage was the same. Scout told me the fire fighters had saved Pocky. Pocky was unconscious when they found her, but they gave her some oxygen and she started to move. I talked to her a bit some more, then got off the phone.

I did not know what to do. Should I go to Sioux City and see mom? I did not want to, I was full of anger towards her, I figured going to the hospital and yelling at her was not a good idea. It was 3 in the morning. I just stared at the wall. My family could have just died, and there was nothing I could do. Should I go over to Kylee’s house? She was going to have a full house, my being there would probably be a burden. So I just stayed in bed. I sent a few texts out explaining what was going on…then nothing. I could not sleep, I stared at my wall until my alarm went off…

(It’s late, part 2 tomorrow)

C++ is Awesome!

Here are a few codes I have written in C++. They are just a ton of fun to write!

/*Jenna ——–
*Lottery
*Purpose: program allowing the user to enter 3 number guesses,
*output users guesses and the 3 random numbers to determine if the
*user has won*/

#include “stdafx.h”
#include<iostream>
#include<ctime>
using namespace std;

int main()
{
/*create 5 constant int variables -
*one for each prize and one for a divisor of 10*/
const int PRIZE1 = 100000;
const int PRIZE2 = 1000;
const int PRIZE3 = 100;
const int PRIZE4 = 10;
const int DIVISOR = 10;

//create an int variable for winnings
int winnings;

/*the following random number function produces a
*random number between 0 and 9 based off of the computers
*time. srand means take an integer argument as the starting point */
srand((unsigned)time(NULL));

//create 3 int variables for guesses
int guess1;
int guess2;
int guess3;

/*the following creates 3 int variables to store the random numbers.
*The rand() function generates a random number between 0 and the constant
*RAND_MAX. RAND_MAX will vary based on the computer system.
* YOU NEED TO DECIDE WHAT RAND() IS DIVIDED BY*/
int ran1 = rand() % DIVISOR;
int ran2 = rand() % DIVISOR;
int ran3 = rand() % DIVISOR;

//create an int variable to hold the matches and initialize it to 0

int matches = 0;

/*prompt the user to enter the first guess number and store it in the
*appropriate variable. Repeat this for 2 more guesses*/
cout << “Pick a number, any number…as long as it’s between 0 and 9!” << endl;
cin >> guess1;
cout << “Good choice, now chose again…” << endl;
cin >> guess2;
cout << “One more number is all you get, chose wisely!” << endl;
cin >> guess3;
//output a message to the user letting them know the random numbers
cout << “You have chosen ” << guess1 << ” ” << guess2 << ” and ” << guess3 <<”! Excellent choices let us find out if you can quit    your day job!” << endl;

/*create an if statement comparing each guess with the matching random
*number. */
if(guess1 == ran1 && guess2 == ran2 && guess3 == ran3)
{
//matches will equal 4
matches = 4;
}
//otherwise
else
//if guess 1 and the first random number match
if( guess1 == ran1 )
{
//increment the counter (matches) using a prefix increment
++matches;
//assign 99 to the first random number
ran1 = 99;
}
//otherwise if the first guess is equal to the second random number
else
if( guess1 == ran2 )
{
//increment the counter (matches) using a prefix increment
++matches;
//assign 99 to the second random number
ran2 = 99;
}
//otherwise if the first guess is equal to the third random number
else
if( guess1 == ran3)
{
//increment the counter (matches) using a prefix increment
++matches;
//assign 99 to the third random number
ran3 = 99;
}
//repeat the above for the second and third guess
if (guess2 == ran1 )
{
++matches;
ran1 = 99;
}
else
if (guess2 == ran2)
{
++matches;
ran2 = 99;
}
else
if (guess2 == ran3)
{
++matches;
ran3 = 99;
}
if (guess3 == ran1 )
{
++matches;
ran1 = 99;
}
else
if (guess3 == ran2)
{
++matches;
ran2 = 99;
}
else
if (guess3 == ran3)
{
++matches;
ran3 = 99;
}
//To determine the prize
//if the matches is equal to 4 assign the 1st prize to winnings
if ( matches == 4)
{
winnings = PRIZE1;
}
else
if (matches == 3)
{
winnings = PRIZE2;
}
else
if (matches == 2)
{
winnings = PRIZE3;
}
else
if (matches == 1)
{
winnings = PRIZE4;
}
else
if (matches == 0)
{
winnings = 0;
}

//otherwise assign 0 to winnings

//output a message to the user telling them what they won
cout << “You have won ” << winnings << “!” <<endl;

//end the program
return 0;

}

That was an awesome Lottery code…I wrote the damn code and I can only win $10…

Here is another one, this one was difficult cause it was completely on my own and if and else statements can still be kind of confusing.

/*Jenna ——–
Chapter 3 Exercise 14
Purpose of this program is to create a program to help someone find an apartment */

// include regular stuff
#include “stdafx.h”
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
//create the your struct
struct Apartment
{
int rooms;
int baths;
int rent;
};

int main ()

{
//create your variables
Apartment yourApartment;

const int BEDROOM = 2;
const int BATH1 = 1;
const int BATH2 = 2;
const int RENT1 = 650;
const int RENT2 = 829;
const int RENT3 = 925;
const int RENT4 = 1075;

//gather information from the user
cout << “How many bedrooms are you looking for?” << endl;
cin >> yourApartment.rooms;
cout << “How many baths are you looking for?” <<endl;
cin >> yourApartment.baths;
//create error codes for invalid entries
if (yourApartment.baths < 1)
cout << “Please check that you entered everything correctly and try again.” <<endl;
else
if (yourApartment.baths > 2)
cout << “I’m sorry, the max number of baths we offer is 2. Please make sure you entered everything correctly and try again.”  << endl;
else
if (yourApartment.rooms < 1)
cout << “Please check that you entered everything correctly and try again.” <<endl;
else
if (yourApartment.rooms > 3)
cout << “I’m sorry, the max number of bedrooms we offer is 3. Please make sure you entered everything correctly and try again.”  << endl;
else
if ((yourApartment.baths == 2) && (yourApartment.rooms == 1))
cout << “I’m sorry, there are currently no units avalible that matched your search.” << endl;
else
if ((yourApartment.baths == 1) && (yourApartment.rooms == 3))
cout << “I’m sorry, there are currently no units avalible that matched your search.” << endl;
//create the valid entry codes to determine rent

else {if ((yourApartment.baths == BATH1) &&(yourApartment.rooms < BEDROOM))

yourApartment.rent = RENT1;

else if ((yourApartment.baths == BATH1) && (yourApartment.rooms == BEDROOM))
yourApartment.rent = RENT2;

else if((yourApartment.baths == BATH2)&& (yourApartment.rooms == BEDROOM))
yourApartment.rent = RENT3;

else if ((yourApartment.baths == BATH2) && (yourApartment.rooms > BEDROOM))
yourApartment.rent = RENT4;

cout<< “Your monthly rent is $” << yourApartment.rent << endl; };

return 0;
}
//dance cause that was AWESOME!

And my last code, which was just fun. My professor liked my cout statments, lol!

/* Jenna ——–
Chapter 2 Exercise 10
Create data struct and assign values */

// Ok here we go, start with all the regular stuff
#include “stdafx.h”
#include <iostream>

using namespace std;
// Time to build a struct and declare the variables within it.

struct Cake
{
int calories;
double price;
};
//Now to get the information from the user with cout and then store it with cin.
int main()
{
Cake yummyCake;
cout << “That cake looks so good. How many calories are in it?” << endl;

cin >> yummyCake.calories;
cout << “Oh man, that cake is so worth the calories! I want one! How much did it cost?” << endl;
cin >> yummyCake.price;
cout << “So what you are saying is that yummy cake has ” <<yummyCake.calories << ” calories and only costs ” << yummyCake.price << “    dollars!” << endl << endl;

//add another variable
double pricePerCalorie;
// do some fancy math to determine the value of the variable
pricePerCalorie = yummyCake.price / yummyCake.calories;
// Echo the information
cout<< “That is only ” << pricePerCalorie << ” dollars a calorie!” << endl;
//go over the code and add spaces and endl’s to make it look more appealing then end the code!
return 0;
}
//…and now I really want cake.

Not sure why any of you would care, hahahaah, but if you are wondering what I am doing in school, there you have it!

Hope everyone is doing good. I don’t currently have internet at home so I am getting further and further behind…