Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 68

Hi Team!

I feel a little less zombie-like today. I tried something weird. I slept with my mp3 player! I have a very eclectic collection in it. Stevie Ray Vaughn, Abba, Martina McBride, Jim Brickman, Garth Brooks, Blackhawk, Trisha Yearwood, Amy Grant, Vince Gill, Apollo 100, Kenny Rogers, REO Speedwagon, Boston, Chicago... you get the point. VERY eclectic. It is all stored on there at random. Last night when I went to bed I put my headphones on, turned on the music and went out like a light. I won't say that changes in the music never woke me up, because they did. But I went right back to sleep. And I woke up feeling, "REFRESHED", at least in comparison to how I have been feeling. I didn't use caffeine to function today! YAY ME!

I had a slow day though. I slept in a little, caught up some on my e-mail and other internet activities that I an still behind on due to my recent trip, I painted pottery for four hours, did a little grocery shopping and attended my 3rd Fire Buff Battalion meeting (YAY ME!). Pete logged only 2,273 steps today, and I would have to agree that it is likely to be accurate. I just finished my second quart of water. I am three for three today. Woo Hoo!

As promised in my Day 67 blog, I looked up the information on PNT 200, by Immunotec. The web page for the product (for anyone who is interested) is:

http://www.immunotec.com/IRL/Public/en/CAN/ShowItemDetails.wcp?&Item=0005900&Site=999999

Basically what I found out is that:

PNT 200 contains an active peptide from the milk protein casein. This unique ingredient has been studied to help naturally diminish the effects of both mental and physical stress in both human and animal studies. PNT 200 is believed to work by binding to GABA receptors in the brain. Substances that bind to these receptors send a message to the body to relax.

Medicinal ingredient per capsule:
Milk Protein Hydrolysate (cow's milk)112 mg

Non-medicinal ingredients:
Sodium caseinate and vegetable gelatin.

The child care parent of mine who recommended this product spoke very highly of it and said that she personally has recommended it to many nurses who now take it regularly and love it. She gave me two capsules try. I think I will try them. I will get back to you at a later date with my impression of them.

Now that all the business is out of the way, tonight was my third monthly Fire Buff Battalion meeting. It seems there has been a huge upset in the leadership. Our longest standing member, one of the club's original founders and the current secretary/treasurer resigned between last month's meeting (the third saturday of the month) and the end of October.

To put things briefly and diplomatically, the current President of our club, after trying to resolve issues through the proper chanels by involving someone from the International Fire Buff Associates (of which our club is an affiliated member)was given a crapload of paperwork from the last decade or more, all mixed up and in no discernable order. Bills, statements, legal documents, receipts, tax info, etc. are all mixed up. Nobody knows when our tax date is, what mess we might be in concerning our non-profit status, etc. (Though it is believed we are not in an irreparable state in that area). In addition, this recently resigned leader kept our canteen unit in his garage, (Covered storage) and plugged in, as is normal for emergency vehicles. Now it is being stored outdoors behind a locked fence at the local firefighter's union hall because it does not have a home. If the fire chief calls us in to do rehab and the vehicle is frozen over it will now take us much longer to respond! It is also the time of year that our firefighters receive service awards and our group is a part of that so there is a lot of work to be done concerning that while we are still trying to sort out the mess, and getting no help from the former person in the leadership position that left us this mess in the first place. Goody, Goody! I sure picked an interesting time to get involved! And until my background check comes back from the Fire Inspector, I cannot help or get involved other than attending meetings. I cannot even help them sort out the mess!! That former leader and his wife, who also resigned, were primary responders in the rehab canteen. We will still have to keep up without them and I can't even fill in because I am not official. Fewer people responding in the busy season is what that means. Can you see I am frustrated? Please pray for God's blessing on our club and that we would be able to meet our primary objective of taking good care of our local firefighters. THat is the purpose of our existance as a club. Pray that our tax exempt status would not be put in jeapardy and that all other problems would be quickly and efficiently resolved.

I am thinking that this could be very good for our club. New blood in the ranks. At nearly 41 years of age, I may be the youngest member! (well, if I WAS officially a member, anyway)

I did notice that the atmosphere was very different this meeting and much lighter and fun. We laughed a LOT! For those of you who have watched Emergency! on television, our meetings sound an awful lot like the banter in the day room at the fire station some times. There is a lot of good natured ribbing going on, some seriousness and some day to day humdrum stuff. But the comaraderie is also very similar to that of what you'd find in fire stations. It is all very cool to (almost) be a part of!

Our Christmas party will be held on December 4th and I am very excited to say that God has helped me get out of my prior commitment and I will be able to attend the party! My dad is coming with me! And maybe even my bro! (too bad hubby and son will be hunting and that they have no interest in this whatsoever.) I could tell the president's husband was disappointed that he would not be meeting my hubby.

While this recently rekindled passion in me was no surprise to me, it certainly seems to have blind sided my hubby. He still says silly things to me out of the blue. "I never knew you liked fire." Um... yeah... because that is what floats my boat. Not the job and challenge of firefighting, emergency medicine, the comaraderie of emergency personnel, the thrill of the fire engines racing lights and sires down the street, etc. Just fire.

In saying that, I don't mean it as a slam to my hubby. He's a wonderful man. He just truly does not understand this. He is trying to though, because he loves me. <3 He is at least supporting me on following my dream to the point of attending EMT school. He has talked about how he is excited that I want to better myself and our financial standings. Sadly Paramedicine is not a hugely high paying job. It is an extremely underpaid profession. It may be a step up for me though. Either way, God has taken amazing care of me, and has cleared each path so that I may pursue this dream of mine.

Okay, well, I feel like I am falling asleep at the computer. Good night everyone and stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 67

Hi Team!

Sorry I did not post this yesterday (the day it refers to) but when I got online yesterday my computer was acting strangely so I opted to run a few different virus scans instead, which of course, takes hours! I am happy to report a clean bill of health for the computer however! :D

Okay, so I have been a walking zombie. One of my child care parents told me about a naturopathic supplement that she has sold to many nurses and others who work crazy rotating shifts that helps the brain slow down enough to sleep without side effects.

Under ingredients it says, "vegetable proteins, contains milk products" and gives no other information. That seemed a bit odd and ambiguous. I'm going to look this stuff up on the internet on Day 68. I think the company name is Immunotech and the product I believe is called PNT 200, if my zombie memory serves me well.

I seem to go through cycles where I have these crazy sleep patterns and this is the worst one I can recall in years. My doc has put me on sleeping pills twice and both times they were different medications. Neither of them worked. One was Ambien before it was decided that it was very dangerous and I don't remember the other one. I am desperate enough right now to try almost anything if it seems safe.

If anyone has any suggestions, other than the usual (and lame) 'best times to (or not to) exercise, best times/things to (or not to) eat or drink, etc. I'd love to hear them. I'm getting pretty difficult to live with about now and it isn't fair to my hubby and son!

On a positive note, Pete and I had a great day (even while in Zombie mode) and his official count was 13,325 steps!! Yay Pete! Yay ME!!! It is so nice to be walking again with Coach Alex. And entertaining too. She is a hoot and a half. At least! And, when we stopped at Starbucks after, we found these beautiful Red ceramic coffe mugs! I lost control and bought us each one. We both LOVE red!! And they were pretty. I couldn't help it. The zombie in me made me do it. :D Unfortunately, I paid with a Bennie (which it is extremely rare that I even have one of) and they had to call me back to the counter to take my change. Yes I am THAT sleep deprived! YIKES!

I'd like to say my fluid intake was good but while I drank a lot of fluids yesterday they were not all good. Before noon I had quite a bit of caffeine. This is not my usual m.o. Usually I have one cup of coffee in the morning, 12 oz, regular coffee maker coffee at home. That is pretty much all the caffeine I take in during a normal day. I did drink water and juice in the afternoon but I didn't really keep track of how much. I just know I probably had about a quart of the caffeinated stuff in the morning. I was really good though. My secret pal at work gave me a LARGE bottle of Cherry Pepsi, (one of my favorites, just ask my bro) and I did not crack it open yesterday! I could have sucked it down to survive the afternoon but I didn't. Yay me!!

Okay, I've covered the basics in today's report. Now one more thing is very imortant.

THANK YOU 911R!! Your encouragement over not cancelling with Coach Alex the other day kept me from doing so the rest of the week, even though I really wanted to take the time to sleep. I got all of my scheduled work outs in this week and I owe that at least partly to you! I am very glad I went each time. I haven't weighed, but I am sure I gained back some of my weightloss (if not all) during the two weeks I was off schedule. I am not going to take my monthly weigh in and measurements. I decided because of that set back to wait until the next one is due. That way the numbers won't be there to discourage me. So I will have to work extra hard until week 12,Day 84!

That's all there is for now. Stay Safe!

Hotflash out.