Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day 100

Hi Team!

Welcome Laurence, AKA Fireball, my newest team member!!  I am very glad you have joined my team.

It's Day 100!!!!!!!  YAY ME!!!! 

I am very excited that I have been climbing this ladder for 100 days now.  I have made good progress, though I wish I had the self discipline to have done more.  I know that can only come from within and I will just have to give more to get more.  I'm not talking about weight loss, that is coming at an appropriate pace for long term success.  But I could be working a lot harder on the fitness end and I should be doing more to get the sleep issues under control.  These comments are not me kicking myself either.  Just honest observations.  As I've said before, honesty in this blog is a must for it to be useful in reaching my dreams.

Today I did not put Pete back to work.  I felt like #&;%(!!  Sometimes being a woman is not all wine and roses!  Every month, I suffer!  Sometimes it is so bad I can barely do the things I HAVE to do.  Thankfully, this month, the worst of it hit during my days off.  Today I felt like I got run over by the tiller.  In addition, even though I drank my fluids yesterday, today I got a bit dehydrated.  Funny how fast that happens when your body is used to getting fluids and you miss most of them for the first half of the day.  I felt so crummy that I have slept most of the day.  When I awoke from a three hour nap at about 4:15 this afternoon, I felt like I hadn't had anything to drink in a month.  My head hurt and I felt weak.  I knew I needed to rehydrate so I made myself some gatorade.  I hate that stuff, but it works!  Two 20 once glasses later I feel a whole lot better.  The Midol helped too. 

So, I did get plenty of sleep both last night and today.  That is 1 for three.
I did get my fluids, even though the first half of the day wasn't so good, I have now made up for it.  I am at about 2 1/2 quarts of herbal tea and gatorade.  That is 2 for three.  I'm not going to make it in the exercise department so 2 for three is my final score for the day.

Well, tomorrow I hope will be a better day.  And I am looking forward to what the next 100 days of climbing will bring.  Thanks so much for all of your support.  Your words of encouragement and occasional kicks in the posterior are a big help to me.

Until we blog again, stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 99

Hi Team!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!! Here is wishing all of you and your loved ones a joyous Christmas and holiday season! May the Lord bless you richly with friends, a sense of purpose, good health, provisions for your needs ,the opportunity to count your blessings, the ability to serve others and a sense of happiness.

Thank you to all of you for encouraging me and for sharing yourself with me.

Pete and I declared today an official day off! We will be back on task tomorrow.

Stay safe.

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 98

Hi Team!

Another great day for Hotflash. I have no idea how much walking I did today Because everytime I checked Pete was hanging from his tether playing Tarzan. I slept well again. I'm really on a roll! And fluids have not been a problem either. 2 1 / 2 quarts today (though admittedly it was 12oz of eggnog with a little rum. YUM!) I think I can fairly give me 3 for 3 today.

I got my cookies delivered today! YAY ME! And I was brave and boldly introduced myself, explained why I was bringing them cookies and then gave them the cookies I had made along with a card. The cover of the card was this:


Then inside it said:

According to Santa and Mrs.. Claus you have all been very good firefighters this year!

Thank you for all you do for our community.

Merry Christmas from the Myers Family!

And then we all signed it.

I did not get too shy or tongue tangled and the cat did not get my tongue and I did not say anything dumb! YAY ME! I think I'm getting better at this. =)

Here is photo documentation of my exploits. Be warned that the photographer was less than excited to be photographing. It was not his best work. But I love him anyway because he is an awesome son!

Here I am at Station 10 posing for a pic with Engine 10




Here I am delivering cookies at Station 10.



Here I am delivering cookies to Station 15.




Here I am delivering cookies to Station 11.




The firefighters were all very friendly and joked with me. I enjoyed being able to share with the firefighters and I especially enjoyed the fact that my family joined me. I know it is not their cup of tea, but they supported me. = D

I have to get this posted and get to bed. It is 5 minutes until Christmas and I do not want Santa to catch me up!

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 97

Hi Team!

Today was a great day! No an awesome day!

I slept very well for a fourth night in a row! YAY ME!!! =D
I drank 3 quarts today, water and herbal tea.
Pete logged 13,738 steps today! YAY ME!!
I am 3 for 3 WOO HOO!!!

During my walk with Coach Alex today, I ran across a friend. The only fireman I knew as a child who is still working for the fire department in my city, Joe S, was at the mall. When he saw me he said, "Hey! Merry Christmas!" and gave me a great big hug! =) We chatted a bit and he met Coach Alex. I didn't dork out today. I looked his partner right in the eye and held out my hand and introduced myself! YAY ME!!! It was wonderful seeing Joe today. It gave me a real boost.

And, I have been a busy fire buff, firefighter/paramedic wannabe. Look what I did!!!

I baked cookies for three fire stations today.



And I decorated them all by myself.



The firefighter looks a little funny.



Here is the helmet.



The fire engine would look better if I decorated it with icing instead of sprinkles, I think.



The fire hydrant is my personal favorite!



The flag turned out well too.


And of course, Sparky had to be there too!



I love my new cookie cutters. I had a lot of fun. The hard part will be trying to decide which three fire stations I will bring cookies to tomorrow.

Until we blog again, stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 96

Hi Team!!

I am amazed that I have had three good nights in a row! I could really get used to sleep! LOL Pete recorded 8440 steps today, though I know he reset at least once. I drank two quarts today, barely. I'll try a little harder tomorrow, but still I'm 3 for 3! YAY ME!

I finally got my Christmas decorations up today!! I love my little 4 1/2 foot tree with my four hallmark ornaments: snoopy fireman (a gift from one of my staff), 1956 Chevy firetruck (a gift from one of the kids I serve at work), snoopy and woodstock camping and snoopy's "Joe Christmas". I have other ornaments, of course, but these are my newest ones. I just love Christmas and was feeling a little blue as my family and I had not gotten around to working our way through our spare room (translate, disorganized storage shed)to get to the attic to get our Christmas things down. Now that my son, who keeps saying, ("We don't need to decorate for Christmas" and "I'm glad we don't have a tree")took the time to dig it out and haul it down, I feel so much better! It's funny how teenagers can make you want to slam your head in the door one second and make you melt faster than a snowball on a hot woodstove the next.

Now I just have to buy a few more things, wrap 80% of them and bake cookies!

Until next blog, stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 95

Hi Team!

I slept well again last night and that was even after staying up late being a night owl. It felt good to get back into my walking routine today after last week not going so well for that. Pete recorded 13,461 steps today. I also made a point to do some steps today when I found some available to me and I had time. YAY ME! It wasn't all at once, because I was working, but I took the stairs ten times just to do it. I have had lots of herbal tea today too, and some juice and milk. That put me at about 3 quarts of fluids today. I am 3 for 3 again! :D

On a personal note, my son surprised me tonight. When I got home I discovered that he and his girlfriend had wrestled their way through the jungle that is our spare room, crawled up into the attic and brought down all the Christmas stuff. We will be decorating after all. We had talked about not doing it because it was going to be so much work to get to the stuff and lots of excuses were made by all three of us. I am so thankful that my son did this. Now I am getting excited again, for Christmas!

Thanks for cheering me up, team!

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Day 94

Hi Team!

THis will be a short report only because I should be in bed.

Pete recorded 5,928 steps today. Pretty good for a Sunday. I drank two quarts today and I slept extremely well last night. YAY ME! Another 3 for 3! =D

Although it is technically tomorrow already, (12:38a.m.) I will be able to get plenty of sleep because I don't have to work until noon. The only other obigation I have is to meet Coach Alex and walk! And I am SO looking forward to that after this last week!

Thanks for continuing to encourage me. The doubt monster has been lurking again. It's because my knees and hips have been hurting a lot lately. But I'm not letting him win! I WILL over come this. I really think stairs are the answer. Well, stairs and Prayers!

Until we blog again...

Stay SAFE!

Hotflash out.