Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 160 and 161

Hi Team!

Friday,
I have to say Friday was not the best day I've ever had.  First, I had to cancel with Coach Alex for teh morning due to some situations that came up at work.   In some ways that turned out to be okay becuase Coach Alex a.k.a. The Smiling Beader, was miserably sick, again some more.  It was a good day for her to rest.

I did get plenty of sleep and drank just over two quarts today.  And although I did not go for my walk I did stay moving on my feet for 12 hours today.  I am definitely counting it as a three for 3 day.  I am TIRED!

As I went about getting my work situations taken care of  Coach Alex sent me a text informing me that there had been a school shooting in our town and a teacher had been shot and killed.  Immediately, even without further details I began praying for that teacher's family, students and co-workers.  And even though at the time I didn't know who the teacher was I began to cry.  The more I prayed the harder I cried.  Then Coach Alex texted again to say that no children had been present and they were all safe, and that the gunman had been shot and killed.  I began praising God for the safety of the students and that the gunman was no longer a danger.  I remember feeling sad that the gunman was going to hell and wondering about the teacher's spiritual walk. 

Later, that night I discovered that I knew the teacher that had been shot.  I didn't know her well and had not talked to her in several years, but I did know her.  She was a well loved and respected Special Education Teacher.    Her name was Jennifer Paulson.  And thankfully I know that she is with the Lord.  She loved the Lord. 

My heart goes out to the students who's lives she touched, to her her co-workers and especially to her family.  I pray God would lift up each one and comfort them and restore a feeling of security that has been stolen from them.

Saturday

Well, I have had a relatively lazy day.  I spent it studying, writing and reading.  I wasn't feeling very well today and my husband is sick so he has been very low key today too.  I did, however, make up for my cancelled walk from yesterday.  My husband and I took our little dog, Kaylee for a walk for almost 50 minutes this evening.  I slept about 7 1/2 hours last night and I have just finished my second quart of fluid for the day.  That makes me 3 for three again.

Here's a picture of my Kaylee.  She is a purebred Dachshund and she's called a silver dapple. She's a sweetie and she LOVES her walks. 


Thanks for supporting me and for all the kind words you send my way regularly.  I appreciate your encouragement very much.

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 158 and 159

Hi Team!

Tuesday was a hum drum kind of day.  Nothing spectacular to report, just that I slep well, drank two quarts of water and sugar free drink mix and was as active as possible during the course of work.  3 for three.

Wednesday

Today Coach Alex and her son James and I hit the mall for our walk.  James, having just graduated from college, started walking with us on Monday.  Coach took our picture so I could show you our newest team member.

Of course she took the pic at the end of our workout.  We don't look pretty, but we worked hard and earned our ragged appearances!

I am trying hard to finish up my minimum fluid intake before bed.  The last few days I have not been interested in drinking my water, tea, etc. for whatever reason.  It has been a challenge and a concerted effort to do so.  I don't know what is up with that.  I did get enough sleep and as you saw, I was very active today and I even included another 15 sets of stairs in today's workout... so three for 3!  Yeah baby!

I learned something today that I did not know.  I learned that my brother's oldest son wants to be a firefighter someday like his dad.  I've visited several times since I started this blog and I didn't have any clue!  I found out from a school assignment he did that my bro posted.  He loosely gave permission to repost as long as the last name was removed to protect anonymity so I did that.  You might get a kick out of it.

This autobiography was written by my 11 year old nephew!

Introduction/About myself


Hello. My name is Frank James "Doe" V (5th in descent. See Family/Heritage) I prefer to be called Jimmy, and that is my nickname. My birthday was April 2nd, 1998. My hair color is irrelevant, but if you want to know, it is a moderate brown color with blond tips, a sort of dirty blondish color. My weight changes on what I eat, but it averages at about 85 lbs. I do not know my height, but if I had to guess, I’d say somewhere around 4’7”.

Favorite things

My favorite things consist of family, friends, video games, fencing (sword fighting), snowball fights, and other boy stuff.

My favorite movie is Avatar. It is a movie about a guy who blah, blah, blah, blah. I would just take up space telling you about it.

My favorite book (series) is the Harry Potter series. It has 7 books: The Sorcerer’s Stone; The Chamber of Secrets; The Prisoner of Azkaban; The Goblet of Fire; The Order of the Phoenix; The Half-Blood Prince; and The Deathly Hallows.

Hobbies

I don’t have any official hobbies, but hobbies aren’t exactly official in the first place.   I babysit, and I like to play piano. I’m very good at hooking up TVs to DVDs, VCRs etc. I shoot rifles and bows.

Family/Heritage

I am the fifth descendent of Frank "Doe" I. Frank "Doe" I named his son (and my great grandpa) Frank "Doe" II. Frank James "Doe" II named his son (and my grandpa) Frank "Doe" III. Frank "Doe" III (deciding to carry on with the “Frank descent” as my dad calls it) named his son (and my father) Frank "Doe" IV. You can probably guess where I ended up. I am Frank "Doe" V, and hopefully this “Frank descent” will continue. My father’s siblings number to about 25! I didn’t believe it until he explained the unfortunately large number of divorces and adoptions.

My mother’s parents also had many divorces, but not so many children.

I have 5 siblings though, and it’s an adventure.

Personality/Characteristics

I don’t want to go into this subject because I’m afraid I’ll exaggerate some facts about myself. Almost all my family agrees I’m a nut (I’m partial to cashew). Even though my older sister questions my human quality, I’m pretty sure I’m human.

Friends

I’ve had so many friends, I can’t keep count, but I can still name them. This is the order I met them in: Nick, Riana, Molly, Celia, Madeleine, Robert, Quinn, Jacob, Kurt, Aubrey, Joey, and Olivia. I’ve had other friends; I just can’t remember their names.

Conclusion

I’ve had a good life, and I look forward to the rest of it. In the future, I hope to become a firefighter like my dad. I also hope to continue the “Frank descent”.

***********************

I loved it!  He can tell a story just like his dad!  The only inaccuracy I saw is the siblings.  (I mean they are my siblings too, right?)  I only count 15, one more legally but not really. (Don't ask, it's complicated)  And then there are three more who are "steps".  That makes at most 19, but that isn't all that big of a deal in the scheme of things.  WE HAVE A LOT OF SIBLINGS!!  And when Jimmy said his family thinks he's a nut and he's partial to cashew, he's not kidding.  Each of the "Doe's" has been given a nutty nickname!  Jimmy's is cashew and I think Johnny's might be "wing" (as in "wingnut! LOL)  I can't remember who is who but if you ask me their just a bunch of mixed nuts!

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 156 and 157

Hi Team!

I hope today finds you well.  I am doing fine.  Sunday was a good day of rest for me.  I barely got my two quart minimum of fluids (but the minimum counts!)  I slept about 7 hours and then I also had a nap in the afternoon.  I was otherwise lazy with my day, really relishing the day of rest!  You can call it either 2 for three or three for 3, as you see fit.  I did not exercise much but it was a NORMAL Sunday, so you decide.  I am content with it.

Monday

Today has been a great day.  I am glad to be back at my regular site for work this week on regular school schedule.  It beats the crazy staffing and shifts of the mid-winter break and I only have 32 children to work with instead of 90 plus!

Coach Alex and I had our walk today and her son James joined us.  We had a nice walk of two laps indoors at the mall (two miles) and a partial lap outside and I did 15 sets of stairs!  YAY ME!  It has been a while since I have been doing stairs so I felt very good about doing all 15 sets.  Coach Alex took a picture of me doing the stairs.  It isn't a great or flattering shot of me, and it is at the top on my 15th trip so I am tired!  Here it is:

Coach said to post it so I did!  I love my coach!

I slept well last night and felt energetic most of the day today.  I drank 2 1/2 quarts of water, green tea and lemonade today.  That makes me three for 3!

I finally got my fire buff battalion patch for my coat, (I don't remember if I already mentioned that in an earlier post) and today I took the coat to a shop to have the patch sewn on and the flag patch on the other arm re-sewn as it is coming loose in one corner.  The cost to have it done will be four times what I paid for my coat!!  (hee hee, remember I only paid three dollars for the coat!)  I'm pretty happy with that.  I can have my coat back on Wednesday.  I can't wait, but I guess I have to!  I'll post a picture, of course, when it is done.

Stay safe my friends.

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 152, 153, 154 and 155

Hi Team!

Okay, this is lame, I know.  I let myself get behind and that isn't working so well when it comes to blogging.

I didnt' take notes so I can't give specifics.  In that way, I let us all down and I am sorry for that. What I can tell you is that Wed, Thur, and Fri I did drink plenty of fluids, (three quarts each day) and I got enough sleep because I purposely did so and although I did not go walking as I usually do,  I DID purposely exercise.  I spent two hours on wednesday and three hours each on thursday and friday supervising between 50 and 90 kids on a playground.  (Not by myself, mind you).  During the time I was supervising, I purposely walked continuously.  I didn't walk at the pace I would ordinarly walk for a work out but I did it for a lot longer than my workouts would have been.  I also worked 8 hours each day barely finding time to sit other than when powdering my nose!  It was Mid-Winter Break for the school district that my child care program is run in and that meant that we had the kids for 11 1/2 hours each day.  Instead of working 6 hours in a split, I worked six hours straight, had a short break then worked two more hours breaking other staff, or vice versa. 

Knowing that I am a procrastinator by nature, I realize that blogging every other day is going to be a real act of self discipline for me.  If I miss one time, I have to write four days worth and I don't think that works very well for the accountability factor.  I will try this one more time.  If I do not stay consistent with every other day I will go back to blogging every day with just the occasional two day blog.

Okay, so I've told you about wed-fri.  Today is saturday for a few more minutes and things are fresh in my head for the day, so here it goes....

I slept in today, YAY!  After getting breakfast, showered and etc.  I took my son to his girlfriend's house then went to the ceramic shop I go to sometimes.  I may have mentioned a long time ago that I was painting a set of ceramic salt and pepper shakers -cows in turnout gear!  I finished the pepper shaker before Christmas and when I was doing some house cleaning this week I discovered it in a box and remembered that the salt shaker was still needing to be finished.  Today was the perfect day for that so I spent about 3 hours painting.  It was so relaxing!  I must remember to do this more often.

I had my monthly fire buff battalion meeting tonight, the first one as the official secretary and I took a lot of notes.  Tomorrow I will have to organize and type them up to submit.  The president let me have two of our battalion patches.  One for my fire coat to replace the McChord Fire Department patch that I removed after I bought it and one for my patch collection.  I offered to buy them because I know they weren't made for free, but Cat said "No charge!"  Lucky me! :)  The quart and a half of iced tea I drank at the meeting and dinner that followed put me at 3 quarts for the day.  I didn't get much exercise today, but no less than usual for a weekend day.  I'm pretty satisfied.

Now it is time to meet another member of the team.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeere's Johnny Boy!

Here is Johnny Boy enjoying a buffalo burger.

If you like meat, you too can be Johnny Boy's friend!

Johnny Boy is Coach Alex's husband and he absolutely adores his wife, which is adorable to watch.  He is kind and thoughtful and sincere.  And he has a great sense of humor.  John is a great cook too.  I have had the pleasure of dining at his table on a number of occasions and I have to admit, I am kind of envious of Coach Alex that her husband is such a great cook and loves doing so!

Another great thing about Johnny Boy is that he puts up with the two of us (Coach Alex and I) hanging out together.  He even encourages it sometimes!  That is something that our kids say is dangerous because Coach Alex and I are highly entertaining (at least to ourselves!) when we're together.  We both talk way too much and Johnny Boy patiently waits for us and then manages to get his 2 cents in at precisely the right moment.  And he is very good natured about it all.  More importantly, he is a man of his word and a good, kind, thoughtful and moral, Christian man whom I am honored to call my friend.

Thanks John, for all the prayers and encouragement.  I cannot tell you how much you mean to me as my friend.

Well, in four minutes it will be tomorrow so I better post this now and get some sleep before church.

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 150 and 151

Hi Team!

Poor Coach Alex.  She just got back from her trip watching her son graduate.  We were going to get together today to walk because although we had both said we would not be meeting this week, we both had forgotten that we each had the day off today.  Sadly, about an hour and a half before she was to meet me she texted to say she was SO staying in bed.  She had gotten sick!!  BOO.  NO FUN. 

But...  I was a good girl!!  I went to the mall without her and did two laps inside then one lap outside.  That meant I walked 3 1/2 miles today.  I SO did not want to do it.  And I wanted to quit after the first inside lap.  Today, my attire paid off.  I looked down at the fire department logo on my shirt and said to myself,  I CANNOT QUIT!  I WANT THIS.  That was when I decided that after my second lap I would walk outside forcing an extra half mile.  And I'm glad I did. :)

I have not done as well on the fluids today.  I haven't quite made two quarts but I will be sure I do before I go to bed.  I really notice now the day after I don't drink enough.  And I did sleep plenty last night because I was able to sleep in!!  Yay me!  By the time I go to bed I will be three for three for the day!

Tuesday:

Today was a great day.  I got to sleep in a little because I didn't have to be at work until 9:30.  Then the first two hours of my shifts was just giving breaks to the other staff.  I didn't have to take responsibility for any problems!!!  :) 

I drank all of my fluids today (3 quarts) and I got plenty of walking in, even though it wasn't a scheduled day because for this week, all of our child care sites are combined in one place due to Mid Winter Break in the schools.  When these breaks occur, I rarely get to sit in a six hour shift.  That means I am walking all the time.  Somehow it isn't so challenging when I'm doing it for work, but it still burns calories!

That made me three for three again.  :)

I'd like to share a memorable part of my day with you.  When I arrived at work, my counterpart, another Site Manager said to me, "there is a fire engine on the table for you!"  That was a little odd sounding, but upon closer examination I discovered, still in the package, a brand new hotwheels fire engine.  On the back it said from (insert whatever random name you like, I can't tell you!).   Awwww, what a sweetie!  It was from one of my boys.  He's in fourth grade and I have had him in my program since he was in kindergarten.  When his mom picked him up in the evening I thanked her, knowing that he had gotten his parents to buy it.  She told me he likes to play "the Claw" at the store.  You know, the game where you put your 50cents in and use a joy stick to sort of control a claw that drops down and tries to grab a prize.  They always let him play but when he asked if he could get the fire engine for "Mrs. Hotflash" they told him he had to choose between the fire engine and the claw, and he chose the fire engine!!!  What a love!  I know I am not supposed to have favorites, but if I did, and of course I don't, he'd be right up at the top of the list!  I love my job!

Until next time, stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 148 and 149

Hi Team!


Saturday was a very slow day for me. I had a headache most of the day and so did my husband so we really didn’t do a lot. I did sleep in in the morning and therefore got plenty of sleep, and I drank 3 quarts of water and iced tea so I was two for three.

I had planned on walking to make up for not going out specifically on Friday, but that did not happen. L We just didn’t feel up to it. It was a quiet day at home, sleeping, swallowing ibuprofen, drinking tea and water and later, watching movies. Nothing at all exciting.


Sunday

I felt much better! My husband did too. We got up early and went to church. Before service started I had already gotten my first quart down for the day! J After the service we went shopping for groceries. BORING, except we picked out our dinner and we got some walking in. We decided to fix thick pork blade steaks, mashed potatoes and mushroom gravy and asparagus for our Valentines dinner. YUMMY!!!! We couldn’t really afford to go out and we enjoyed our dinner in. Our teenaged son was away at his girlfriend’s house so we had a date at home! J J

We did take the dog on a forty-five minute walk so I made up for my missing walk on Friday! YAY ME! Not only that but we had a good time doing it. We haven’t taken very many walks together (my husband and I) in the last year or so. I would always get winded because he would walk too fast. Today was not like that at all! I kept up and did not get too tired or winded. I really enjoyed it actually.

By bed time I had drank three quarts of water and iced tea so for Sunday I was three for three.  WOO HOO!

Nothng else exciting to report.

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.

Report From Ladder Company 40 Days 146 and 147

Hi Team!

Not much to report for thursday or friday.

Thursday I drank 3 quarts of weak iced tea. :)  I was active throughout the day, though I was extremely tired.  My dog kept me awake all night jumping up on me then getting down, then up then down, etc.  I wanted to tie her long nose in a knot!!  So, thanks to her I can only say I got 2 out of three.  Nothing exciting to report though.  Sorry.

Friday

THANK GOODNESS IT IS FRIDAY and I have a 3 Day weekend!!!!!  I drank lots of fluids today, I lost count after 2 quarts.  My assistant handed me fluids occasionally and I also had a water bottle that was next to me most of the day.  I did not get to go for my walk today due to some work I had to do to prepare for mid-winter break (which means our kids are out of school but we combine our 4 programs and provide care ALL DAY).  I did not sit down for more than 20 minutes after 1 pm and I was pretty active prior to that.  I am sure that I got an equivalent workout in.  And last night I slept like a baby!  = D

I think I can fairly call it a three out of three day.

I have nothing else to report today either.  But you should see the cutest picture ever!  (My brother sent the pic to me.)

Gabriella wants to be a firefighter!  Sweet!

Stay safe!

Hotflash out.