Keep on Keepin' On

Somehow another five months have passed with no posts.  Sorry.  It has everything to do with working outside of the home.  I have adult interaction now and I'll never go back.

I've over a year of experience answering the 911 phones and here's what's happened: I've aided in the delivery of three (THREE!) babies, I've been the last person that somebody has talked to before dying and I know every person that should be avoided at all costs in the entire county.  And hey, remember how scared I was of getting my first CPR call?  Yeah, I've moved on from that.  I've taken more CPR calls in the last year than any other employee (I know, my supervisor told me so).  While my two most-used nicknames at work are 'Firestarter' and 'Black Angel of Death', my co-workers have to admit that it's always a fun time when I'm there.  Or at least busy.  And traumatizing.  Starting next week, I am officially Law Enforcement training.  Movin' on up!  But please don't turn on your scanners to listen to me until I've had some experience.  And by experience, I mean until I'm done making a complete ass of myself. 

Since I last blogged, summer happened.  I don't really remember it and I'm pretty sure I was gypped somewhere in the process.  We did get to take a family vacation this year and we spent a whole lot of time at the swimming pool, but it really seems like the entire summer lasted two days. 



Mae can fly!



Kyler fishes in a very dramatic way

Family vacation was Colorado.  In my constant effort at making my children responsible, I made them pack their own suitcases.  I told them ONLY the necessities: clothes, toothbrushes, money, cameras.  After driving the "back way" through the night (my brilliant idea that nearly landed us deceased several times due to dark hillbilly highways flooded with deer), we arrived, exhausted, at our hotel at 8am.  I was shuffling all the paperwork and pamphlets together that the hotel clerk gave me when I muttered under my breath, "He could have at least stapled them."  Mae, who was cheerily unpacking her suitcase, proclaimed, "I have a stapler you can use!"  When I turned to ask why in the world she would have a stapler, I noticed that she was hanging her dream catcher above her bed that was lined with stuffed animals.  Only the necessities...

For five days, we spent time in Colorado Springs and Manitou Springs and completely fell in love with both...to the point that Kenny was checking out the prices of housing and inquiring about jobs at nearly every place we visited.  We hiked through Garden of the Gods three times, ATV'd over a mountain and took a train ride to the top of Pike's Peak.  We slept like the dead every single night.  One night, we ate dinner at a sit-in restaurant and Kyler was so tired that when the waitress asked how he would like his burger done, he replied, "Over easy."  And now he'll never live that down. 

Our drive home seemed much simpler since we took the interstate, like we should have done in the first place.  You just don't appreciate home like you should until you leave for a while.  For me, it's one day.  I get homesick so quickly that it's embarrassing.  And now that I get to leave the house nearly every day and have social interaction (remember, from the first paragraph?), I just don't ever feel the need to leave home unless I'm taking the kids to the park or the library.  Those are safe places that feel like home. 

Now, school is back in session (sad mom-face).  There's a new app that lets me see exactly what the kids are doing in school, what grades they receive on each assignment and how much money is in their lunch account.  It is updated daily.  Kyler is not liking this new app, as I am constantly telling him which classes he needs to study for and where he needs to improve.  Mae, on the other hand, is loving it, every day opening it and saying something like, "Hmm, STILL all A's." 

I've decided that it's either time to clean the house or time to take a nap.  Bet you'll never guess which one I'm pulling for.  Either way, I'm done with this post.  I feel like I've left a lot out but I'm just not used to functioning during the day.  Hopefully I'll be back on here before winter!

Springing right along...

Spring is here and I'm hungry for life.  I have a yearning within me that I've felt several times before in my life, but never so strongly.  I want to learn more, know more, see more, do more, be more.  I see people that make me so sad simply because they've quit wanting things.  They let the world push them around and it is evident in the way that they carry themselves.  You're alive; please know this.  Take a deep breath, turn up the music and show the world your soul.

I have been planting more things in our yard and the outdoor projects are never ending.  Kenny and I will someday have our fairytale backyard, vibrant with colors and memories and we waste no time in our haste to get there. We rebuilt the fire pit yesterday.  Such a small sentence, such a tremendous job.  I am beyond sore, but looking outside and seeing our completed work instead of piles of bricks makes me happy.  Mae was our star helper, as usual, even making us a full picnic (without being told to) when she heard our tummies rumbling.  Kyler helped for about three minutes, then spent the remainder of the day jumping on the trampoline and telling us we were doing a good job every so often.  He might make a great supervisor some day. 

The kids continue growing and I will never quit being so proud of them.  Proud when they learned to pick up a cheerio, tied their first shoe, flew their first kite...but it's different now.  They're doing things that I don't teach them.  They have all these ideas and wants and I just couldn't ask for anything more from them.  I mean, except for clean rooms, but I'll take the mess in exchange for a full heart.

 Work is good, minus Saturdays.  I've yet to have a good Saturday.  People are just more dramatic and angry on Saturdays and the only thing I can find to blame for this is alcohol.  But it is what it is and I suppose that ignorance is job security.  Aside from this, my co-workers are incredibly hilarious. I've decided that must be one of the unspoken requirements of the job as there is not a single person that works with me that doesn't have a disgustingly sick sense of humor.  It is really the only thing that keeps me sane some days.  And remembering back, there was a lot of laughter during my interview so it all makes sense.

I'll end this now.  I'm spending the evening with my sister, visiting an old friend.  Well, she's not "old" but I've known her longer than I've known Kenny and that is solely how I decide if a friend is old or new.  If I knew you before Kenny and we still visit, you are very important to me.  There are really only about five of you.  I used to be so good at keeping in touch but I've completely lost that ability over the last five years, so thank goodness for persuasive sisters who remind me that one of life's greatest gifts is road trips with people you love that lead to other people you love.  I wish anybody reading this a beautiful day.  May your music be loud!  

Bring On The Monday...I Guess.

The kids had school today, which turned out to be a shock to my system as I was fully expecting to sleep in and have a leisurely day at my own pace.  Instead, two kids came screaming into my room at seven o'clock this morning and both began jumping on my bed, which excited the dogs into a fit of barking and also trying to jump on my bed.  This is my usual wake-up call and if I'm expecting it, it only shaves a few months off of my life.  But unexpected?  I'll be dead by 40.  We played our usual Monday-morning game of 'Find Kyler's Glasses' (I won) and then everybody laughs at Mom (except Mom) because she's wearing jammies with dress shoes and Dad's hat to drive the kids to school in.  Hey, whatever jumps in front of me is what I wear on days like these.  And then they were off to school and the thought of a good night's sleep was a thing of the past.  I had groceries to buy, a house to clean and a blog to keep up with!

For the past few days, Kyler and Mae have both been working out with me.  A mind-snapshot from yesterday: Kyler was sprinting on the treadmill while Mae and I were both lifting weights, counting in unison, when out of nowhere, we all busted out in a fit of laughter at the same time.  We have no idea why this happened but I want to make sure I remember it, and now it's in stone (or at least encrypted on my computer).  These kids of mine are surprisingly motivational.  I tried doing tae bo when they were about three and four years old.  About halfway through the video, I angrily shut it off because both kids began whining about being bored the second I started, even when I stayed calm and tried to get them involved.  They sure have come a long way!  I even decided that we should make our own workout video...why are there no "family workouts" out there?  Unless there are and I just don't know about them.  It's a brilliant idea either way.

We have booked our Colorado motel and after much research on zip-lining, we decided it's a no-go.  Last time we were in Colorado, Kenny got extreme altitude sickness after forcing me to the top of Pike's Peak.  While I call this karma, he has forever written off climbing to the tops of any mountains, and that includes zip-lining from one to the next.  However, we did book an ATV trip that we're all very excited about.

Work update: Now that I'm fire-qualified, I am headed back to third shift.  I was so excited to try my hand at second shift, where people sleep at night and all the fun calls happen when I'm actually at work, but now that I've tried it, I'm happy to be going back to nights.  Being busy does make the time go faster, but it is putting quite a damper on my book-reading and that's important.  I also enjoy the laidbackedness (new word!) of third shift, where an insult is not really an insult and if you do something wrong, you will get cursed at in a fun-loving way.  I am totally serious.  Maybe you have to be there to understand.

Wishing happiness to all, and if you feel down about the cold weather, just think of all the mosquitoes that aren't biting you and the lawn you don't have to mow.

2015: Rockin' it so far

A week ago, it was sunny and sixty degrees and today we're smothered by seven inches of snow, with more in the forecast.  All I have to say about this is, "I told you so!"  Well, if I've seen you in person, I told you so.  It's the typical January pattern.  Mother Earth is saying, "Look how wonderful I can be!" and then somebody didn't do the dishes or she ran out of coffee or something and this is the resulted backlash.  I'm proud to report that the minivan is a beast in the snow.  The neighbor got their car stuck right in the middle of the lane this morning.  Knowing that failure to make it to the school would result in yet another day of kids being home (I love my kids, I love my kids, I love my kids), I put the pedal to the metal and we plowed right around that car, and uphill!  Now, here I sit, peacefully alone with an entire day all to myself stretched out before me. 

We are excitedly planning a May trip to Colorado Springs.  Mae and I have chosen the hotel while Kenny and Kyler have decided on Garden of the Gods, cave dwellings, a ghost town and a dinosaur museum with paleontologists on site digging out an actual dinosaur (every time this is brought up to Kyler, he drifts off into a minutes-long space-stare with a big smile on his face).  We are also toying with the idea of zip-lining but knowing what cowards Kyler and I can be when faced with any sort of heights (even a rooftop), I'm not gonna pay up in advance.  If you've already visited, we are fully open to more suggestions as we plan to be there for five days.

Work is good.  Better than good, actually.  I began fire training on January 2nd and I will admit that I was terrified.  Calltake was no easy task to learn but I was comfortable with it and worried that I wouldn't take to working with firefighters and paramedics quite as well.  Turns out I was waaaay wrong.  I LOVE it.  Most people aren't lucky enough to get an actual "working" fire during training.  I got one on my first day, then another, then another.  When the building downtown burned to the ground on Saturday, I even got to walk down and see it since it was only two blocks from the dispatch center.  I gotta say that it was pretty cool to walk right through the news crews who had been standing in the cold waiting for the Chief (who was sitting in his truck) to do an interview, only to have the Chief roll down his window and say, "Hey!  Hop on in, I'll show you what we do here!"  It was exciting and educational to see how things work on the other end of the radio. 

This is why they also sent me for a seven-hour ride-along with Lincoln Fire and Rescue.  They told me to keep my expectations low as most ride-alongs aren't nearly as exciting as one would expect.  Other dispatchers told me they got to go on one call and it wasn't even an exciting one.  When I showed up at the station, this seemed accurate.  There were only two paramedics in the whole place and nothing was happening.  A little over an hour in, they got a call and I took my very first ambulance ride.  Turned out they got called off of it so they took me to their station's engine, which was just finishing up training.  So then I took my very first engine ride (it was AWESOME) and we went on a medical call.  After that, we went back to the station where hamburgers were grilled and everybody sat together and ate.  I absolutely loved all of the practical joking that was happening, which I suppose is necessary when you have to live with a whole group of people for twenty-four hours straight every other day.  Like magic, as soon as we finished eating, we got called out on a fire alarm, so I got to take my first truck ride!  Also AWESOME!  It was about this time that I decided Kenny has missed his calling.  He should definitely be a fire truck driver, as he already drives exactly like one except when he does it, it's illegal.  So, the fire alarm was pretty boring and when it was over and we were en route to the fire station once again, we got called out to a fatality accident.  It was then that I decided I could NEVER be a firefighter or a paramedic.  When I went back to work, I suddenly felt so safe.  Hearing tragedy over the phone can be traumatic, but seeing it first-hand is nauseating. 

And now, as soon as it is signed off by the big dogs, I am fully fire trained!  Can't wait to see what I get to learn next!  I've never had a job where I've felt that I fit in so well.  If ever I say something shocking and inappropriate (which I do often), my co-workers either reply with a good belly-laugh or by saying something equally as shocking and inappropriate.  I've never felt more myself.  I know in an earlier blog I posted that I was just waiting for them to figure out who I really am, at which point I planned to be shoved away, but I think I've found a whole group of people who actually get me.  I suppose it makes sense, considering the multitude of personality tests we had to take to get the job.  I don't mean to worry you, but just consider it: a whole room of ME's!  And we're in charge of keeping the public safe!  Scared yet?

Enough about me.  Kenny has started a job at the retirement home in Adams.  Kenny + old people = happiness all around.  I've honestly never seen him so at peace.  We were talking a couple days ago about work and it suddenly dawned on me that for the first time ever, we both like our jobs.  It makes a whole world of difference in your everyday attitude.  If you don't like your job, I promise there's one out there that you'll love.  I spent way too many years in a job just because I was too worried that I would like a different job even less.  But it turns out, if you do happen to like another job less, you can quit that one, too. 

I'll end this now as it is getting rather long.  I hope this cold weather finds everybody well and that none of you have to call me at work!