Hi Team!
Not a lot to report today. Pete said that I walked 11,439 steps today. I drank almost two quarts of fluids today. YAY ME!
I am still having some trouble with my right knee wanting to give out on me when stepping up or down as from a curb or stairs. I will have to overcome this somehow and strengthen that knee. God is able!
I am not doing very well at consistant sleep times. I got about 5 1/2 hours last night. I must improve on this, although, considering the time of night I am posting this, tomorrows post wont be reporting any better sleep times!
I need to seriously consider adding something to my week as far as exercise and conditioning goes. I knew this would be a big commitment, but the reality is starting to hit. I have a hard time committing to more time for anything. I know I will have to give up some free time to add conditioning and strength training to my routine. I am considering returning to the YMCA's 12 week program. It is a program that gets people started in regular exercise including cardio, weights and flexibility exercises. It is a supervised program designed to establish healthy habits and to teach participants hoow to use equipment and establish routines. Since my husband is a full time YMCA employee, I have a free membership. Silly not to use it!
Well, that is it for now. Stay Safe!!
Hotflash out.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day 18
Hi Team!
I hope the weekend was good to you. It definitely was to me. Today was another busy day with Sunday school, church service, choir practice and quiz team practice! All of those obligations involved an awful lot of sitting so when I finished with quiz practice, I came home and took the dog for a walk. YAY ME!!
According to Pete I walked 6,098 steps today. NOt too bad. I would have preferred at least 8,000, but not too bad.
I had seven hours of sleep last night. That was great!
I have had about 60 ounces of fluid today.
Tomorrow I will be adding more stairs to my work out. Currently I walk three miles and do 10 sets of steps. I will begin doing 12 sets of steps tomorrow and if I am still breathing reasonably at the end of my workout on Friday, I will go for 15 sets next week. That is my goal anyway.
I have a challenge for anyone who is interested. I am looking for ideas on how to get my exercise in, in a fun way with little or no exercise equipment, while in Washougal at my brother's home/fire station. It has to be fun because my Coach will not be around to kick my butt and hold me accountable. She won't even be able to reach me online as I will not have online capability while I am gone. I don't want to go out walking because my brother lives in the sticks! I would prefer not to do my walking on gravel roads, or narrow roads along the Washougal River where the drivers routinely go 40-50 miles an hour! If you have any ideas, please send them my way. I have over a month to figure this out. Thanks.
Until later, Stay SAFE!
Hotflash out
I hope the weekend was good to you. It definitely was to me. Today was another busy day with Sunday school, church service, choir practice and quiz team practice! All of those obligations involved an awful lot of sitting so when I finished with quiz practice, I came home and took the dog for a walk. YAY ME!!
According to Pete I walked 6,098 steps today. NOt too bad. I would have preferred at least 8,000, but not too bad.
I had seven hours of sleep last night. That was great!
I have had about 60 ounces of fluid today.
Tomorrow I will be adding more stairs to my work out. Currently I walk three miles and do 10 sets of steps. I will begin doing 12 sets of steps tomorrow and if I am still breathing reasonably at the end of my workout on Friday, I will go for 15 sets next week. That is my goal anyway.
I have a challenge for anyone who is interested. I am looking for ideas on how to get my exercise in, in a fun way with little or no exercise equipment, while in Washougal at my brother's home/fire station. It has to be fun because my Coach will not be around to kick my butt and hold me accountable. She won't even be able to reach me online as I will not have online capability while I am gone. I don't want to go out walking because my brother lives in the sticks! I would prefer not to do my walking on gravel roads, or narrow roads along the Washougal River where the drivers routinely go 40-50 miles an hour! If you have any ideas, please send them my way. I have over a month to figure this out. Thanks.
Until later, Stay SAFE!
Hotflash out
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Flashpointz -East Pierce Fire and Rescue Open House
Hi everyone! Today was a very fun day. My neice, Amanda and her two year old son, Jermaine came to my house this morning. Shortly after their arrival we headed out to Bonney Lake to the East County Fire and Rescue 16th Annual Open House. It was scheduled from 1:00-4:00. We arrived at about 1:10 pm and were very glad we came when we did. If we had been late it would have been a mad house for parking and as it was, we did not do everything there was to do!
I had no idea the event would be so big or so well attended. There were people every where! The fire department really did a great job with this event. There were several interactive booths, including but not limited to the Firefighter Challenge, Spot the Tot, Interactive Rope Rescue, Spin the Safety Wheel game, Interactive Firefighter, and lots more. There was a bounce house designed to look like a fire station, Jaws of Life Demonstrations, lots of rescue rigs to look at and get pictures in and around, free popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream and plenty more I have not mentioned. They also had low cost bike helmets and life jackets for sale, custom fittings included.
The firefighter challenge is the one I wish I could have participated in. THey might have even let me but I was too shy to ask. NOne of the other adults were doing it except the occasional firefighter when there wasn't a partner for a child wanting to participate. The participants had to wear a bunker coat, run a short distance and grab onto a "victim" (a dummy in turnout gear with a pull strap attached) and drag the victim back to the starting point (a firefighter assisted kids with that part as needed). Then they had to pick up a charged hose and drag it back to where the victim had been, open the nozzle and spray it at a sign on a stand, knocking it over to "put out the fire."s It looked SO fun. And watching it it suddenly dawned on me, I have not had the opportunity to use a fire hose yet!! Bro- you will have to help remedy that (please??!!)
Jermaine was really cute. He was really enjoying all the action going on around him. He was too short to participate in many of the interactive activities, but the firefighters there were as accommodating as could be. They talked to him, gave him a hat, shared high fives, and gave him the prizes he would have been able to have if he had participated. At the Interactive firefighter booth the kids got to put on boots, bunker pants and coat. Jermaine is so tiny that we stepped him into the boots with the pants tucked down around the bottoms and we couldn't even pull the pants up a little bit. So we put his hat on him and took a picture any way.
At one booth the prizes included a choice of pencils, rulers or fire related erasers. Jermaine got a fire engine eraser. He chose yellow. (He's only two so he doesn't know any better!) We tried to convince him to trade for red but he was having nothing to do with that! Walking away from that booth, Jermaine kept stooping down to the ground and trying to "drive" his yellow fire engine around. He loved it!
We got pictures of Jermaine by the pump panel of a fire engine, standing on a front bumper of a rig, on the tail board of a fire engine with bright orange and yellow reflective paint across the back, and with Sparky the fire dog and Smokey the bear. That yellow and orange reflective paint on the back of the fire engine was brighter than all get out! I don't think I've ever seen anything so bright on a rescue rig before.
At the Spot the Tot booth we discovered that Jermaine could not be seen from the driver's seat behind the "firefighter SUV" (lol, inside joke)until he was 14 feet back! That is a long distance away. I think it was a real eye opener to Amanda.
The Jaws of Life Demonstration was my favorite part of the day. We watched as the four man team of firefighters assessed the scene first then planned how to extricate the "victim". We saw them use several cool power tools to do the job including a ram and the jaws of life. The tool they use to remove the windshield is really cool. It shatters glass if needed, it breaks a small hole in the glass to get another part of the tool into to saw laminated glass and they basically saw all the way around the windshield then lift it out in one pieces. Then they cut the top off of the car and remove the whole thing making it resemble a convertable. Of course, they were sure to tell us that if the doors are removable they would use that route to extricate before going so far as to remove the top. It was a neat demonstration and I took lots of pictures. The men worked together like a well oiled machine, as they should. THey did make one obvious mistake that the crowd did notice. The air hoses to their ram and jaws of life ended up under the front of the car and the extication process could have caused the broken car to cut of their air supply for the tools. When the crowd started murmurning about it, a firefighter who was not involved with the demonstration brought it to the attention of the chief, who was narrating the event. OOPS! The chief moved the hoses without comment and the demonstration continued. LOL Nobody's perfect.
We left the event at about ten to four, and there was still plenty more we would have liked to have participated in, but the event was over and the firefighters were ready to clean up and go back to business as usual. All in all it was a very fun day and I am so glad that Amanda happened to be in town and agreed to go. I'm looking forward to future Open Houses, when Jermaine is a bit bigger.
The only real disappointment was that they were not selling t-shirts or firemen calendars! They did have some cool afghans but they were 40 dollars and I couldn't swing that. Maybe next time!
Thanks a bunch to my assistant at work, Nondre', who let me know about this event.
One more bit of news before I sign off:
In November, during the week of Veteran's Day, I get to take some of my vaction and go back to Washougal, to my brother's house and Fire Station!
I hope that THIS time I actually get to ride along on something!! I'll be counting down the days until my vacation now. I can hardly wait!
Have a good night everyone! Stay safe.
Hotflash
I had no idea the event would be so big or so well attended. There were people every where! The fire department really did a great job with this event. There were several interactive booths, including but not limited to the Firefighter Challenge, Spot the Tot, Interactive Rope Rescue, Spin the Safety Wheel game, Interactive Firefighter, and lots more. There was a bounce house designed to look like a fire station, Jaws of Life Demonstrations, lots of rescue rigs to look at and get pictures in and around, free popcorn, cotton candy and ice cream and plenty more I have not mentioned. They also had low cost bike helmets and life jackets for sale, custom fittings included.
The firefighter challenge is the one I wish I could have participated in. THey might have even let me but I was too shy to ask. NOne of the other adults were doing it except the occasional firefighter when there wasn't a partner for a child wanting to participate. The participants had to wear a bunker coat, run a short distance and grab onto a "victim" (a dummy in turnout gear with a pull strap attached) and drag the victim back to the starting point (a firefighter assisted kids with that part as needed). Then they had to pick up a charged hose and drag it back to where the victim had been, open the nozzle and spray it at a sign on a stand, knocking it over to "put out the fire."s It looked SO fun. And watching it it suddenly dawned on me, I have not had the opportunity to use a fire hose yet!! Bro- you will have to help remedy that (please??!!)
Jermaine was really cute. He was really enjoying all the action going on around him. He was too short to participate in many of the interactive activities, but the firefighters there were as accommodating as could be. They talked to him, gave him a hat, shared high fives, and gave him the prizes he would have been able to have if he had participated. At the Interactive firefighter booth the kids got to put on boots, bunker pants and coat. Jermaine is so tiny that we stepped him into the boots with the pants tucked down around the bottoms and we couldn't even pull the pants up a little bit. So we put his hat on him and took a picture any way.
At one booth the prizes included a choice of pencils, rulers or fire related erasers. Jermaine got a fire engine eraser. He chose yellow. (He's only two so he doesn't know any better!) We tried to convince him to trade for red but he was having nothing to do with that! Walking away from that booth, Jermaine kept stooping down to the ground and trying to "drive" his yellow fire engine around. He loved it!
We got pictures of Jermaine by the pump panel of a fire engine, standing on a front bumper of a rig, on the tail board of a fire engine with bright orange and yellow reflective paint across the back, and with Sparky the fire dog and Smokey the bear. That yellow and orange reflective paint on the back of the fire engine was brighter than all get out! I don't think I've ever seen anything so bright on a rescue rig before.
At the Spot the Tot booth we discovered that Jermaine could not be seen from the driver's seat behind the "firefighter SUV" (lol, inside joke)until he was 14 feet back! That is a long distance away. I think it was a real eye opener to Amanda.
The Jaws of Life Demonstration was my favorite part of the day. We watched as the four man team of firefighters assessed the scene first then planned how to extricate the "victim". We saw them use several cool power tools to do the job including a ram and the jaws of life. The tool they use to remove the windshield is really cool. It shatters glass if needed, it breaks a small hole in the glass to get another part of the tool into to saw laminated glass and they basically saw all the way around the windshield then lift it out in one pieces. Then they cut the top off of the car and remove the whole thing making it resemble a convertable. Of course, they were sure to tell us that if the doors are removable they would use that route to extricate before going so far as to remove the top. It was a neat demonstration and I took lots of pictures. The men worked together like a well oiled machine, as they should. THey did make one obvious mistake that the crowd did notice. The air hoses to their ram and jaws of life ended up under the front of the car and the extication process could have caused the broken car to cut of their air supply for the tools. When the crowd started murmurning about it, a firefighter who was not involved with the demonstration brought it to the attention of the chief, who was narrating the event. OOPS! The chief moved the hoses without comment and the demonstration continued. LOL Nobody's perfect.
We left the event at about ten to four, and there was still plenty more we would have liked to have participated in, but the event was over and the firefighters were ready to clean up and go back to business as usual. All in all it was a very fun day and I am so glad that Amanda happened to be in town and agreed to go. I'm looking forward to future Open Houses, when Jermaine is a bit bigger.
The only real disappointment was that they were not selling t-shirts or firemen calendars! They did have some cool afghans but they were 40 dollars and I couldn't swing that. Maybe next time!
Thanks a bunch to my assistant at work, Nondre', who let me know about this event.
One more bit of news before I sign off:
In November, during the week of Veteran's Day, I get to take some of my vaction and go back to Washougal, to my brother's house and Fire Station!
I hope that THIS time I actually get to ride along on something!! I'll be counting down the days until my vacation now. I can hardly wait!
Have a good night everyone! Stay safe.
Hotflash
Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day 18
Hi Team!
Welcome to my Bro! Today was a pretty decent day. I forgot to clip Pete n until almost noon, but even so, I still clocked 6,472 steps. I am sure I did close to 7,500 or so if you count what Pete did not. Most of my walking today was at the 16th annual East Pierce Fire and Rescue Open House, which I will discuss in more detail in my Flashpointz entry after I finish this one.
My fluid intake today was only about 48 oz, but that isn't too bad. And I haven't given up. I have approximately two more hours to get the fluids down.
I slept about 8 hours last night. YAY ME!!
Today my neice and I took several pictures at the EPF&R open house. I had them processed right away and looking at my pictures even I can see an improvement. My face looks thinner and I thought younger (but maybe that was just me), and my blouse fit better too. I must confess that I weighed myself on a scale I found at the office where I work on Friday. I was extremely disappointed to note not one pound difference from the weight I started this blog with. However, I do not believe what that scale says. Either it or the one I weighed on to begin with lies, or I have replaced fat with muscle from the walking. (I have noticed definite shape to my calves that wasn't there before.) I can see a difference and others, who were not aware that I was working on it, noticed too. Therefore, I am not going to let it discourage me. GOD is ABLE! I will weigh again after day 28.
Well, that's about it for now. Thanks for continuing to encourage me and for reading this. Stay Safe!!!
Hotflash out.
Welcome to my Bro! Today was a pretty decent day. I forgot to clip Pete n until almost noon, but even so, I still clocked 6,472 steps. I am sure I did close to 7,500 or so if you count what Pete did not. Most of my walking today was at the 16th annual East Pierce Fire and Rescue Open House, which I will discuss in more detail in my Flashpointz entry after I finish this one.
My fluid intake today was only about 48 oz, but that isn't too bad. And I haven't given up. I have approximately two more hours to get the fluids down.
I slept about 8 hours last night. YAY ME!!
Today my neice and I took several pictures at the EPF&R open house. I had them processed right away and looking at my pictures even I can see an improvement. My face looks thinner and I thought younger (but maybe that was just me), and my blouse fit better too. I must confess that I weighed myself on a scale I found at the office where I work on Friday. I was extremely disappointed to note not one pound difference from the weight I started this blog with. However, I do not believe what that scale says. Either it or the one I weighed on to begin with lies, or I have replaced fat with muscle from the walking. (I have noticed definite shape to my calves that wasn't there before.) I can see a difference and others, who were not aware that I was working on it, noticed too. Therefore, I am not going to let it discourage me. GOD is ABLE! I will weigh again after day 28.
Well, that's about it for now. Thanks for continuing to encourage me and for reading this. Stay Safe!!!
Hotflash out.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Flashpointz -weekend plans
Last week at work, my assistant, Nondre' came up to me and told me she had a surprise for me. She said she was sorry it was not a fireman but it was the closest she could come to one. (Before any of you worry, I joke about wanting my own fireman with some regularity, but my husband is still the hottest man I know and I wouldn't trade him for all the firemen in the world!) Anyway, Nondre' produced a large postcard with fire apparatus on the front. The back was an advertisement for the East Pierce Fire and Rescue (Bonney Lake Fire Department)'s 16th annual open house, which is tomorrow (Saturday Sept. 26th).
If all goes as planned, I am going to attend this event. I do NOT want to attend by myself because my shyness kicks in at events like that. (Yeah, REALLY! I really AM shy at times. I KNOW you don't believe me, but it's TRUE!) My neice, Amanda, is supposed to meet up with me tomorrow and she and I will take her little boy and have good time. That is the plan anyway. We will see if it actually happens. I am expecially interested in the "Jaws of Life" demonstrations and the Interactive Rope Rescue. (and admiring the apparatus and firemen (-okay fire fighters).
Firemen is used the same way firetruck is used. It is all encompassing. Many of what we call fire trucks are fire engines (and vice versa- there IS a difference)and often times firemen are actually female! It's kind of like "bandaid,""jello," and "kleenex."
If I do attend this event as I hope to, I will take pictures and will report back on any highlights in a future blog.
Remember, have an exit plan adn meeting place in case of fire. Know it and practice it regularly. Test your smoke detectors and change the batteries at least twice a year! Stay Safe.
If all goes as planned, I am going to attend this event. I do NOT want to attend by myself because my shyness kicks in at events like that. (Yeah, REALLY! I really AM shy at times. I KNOW you don't believe me, but it's TRUE!) My neice, Amanda, is supposed to meet up with me tomorrow and she and I will take her little boy and have good time. That is the plan anyway. We will see if it actually happens. I am expecially interested in the "Jaws of Life" demonstrations and the Interactive Rope Rescue. (and admiring the apparatus and firemen (-okay fire fighters).
Firemen is used the same way firetruck is used. It is all encompassing. Many of what we call fire trucks are fire engines (and vice versa- there IS a difference)and often times firemen are actually female! It's kind of like "bandaid,""jello," and "kleenex."
If I do attend this event as I hope to, I will take pictures and will report back on any highlights in a future blog.
Remember, have an exit plan adn meeting place in case of fire. Know it and practice it regularly. Test your smoke detectors and change the batteries at least twice a year! Stay Safe.
Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day 17
Hi Team!
I am in a very up and happy mood! It seems my hero has been reading my blog and posted some kind comments on his own blog, the Engine 17 Project, about it. My brother is so AWESOME!
Today was a walking day so I made 10,982 steps, according to Pete. (That is the name I gave to my pedometer just this moment!) Pete's judgement is off when it comes to distance. This I am sure of because I clocked my walk route with my trip odometer in my car. That means that my stride is not correctly inputted into Pete's memory. Distance isn't that important though. I walked an entire hour and made my 10 trips up and down the steps. Monday I will begin making 12 trips each time. YAY ME!
Coach Alex loves to dance to the beat of a different drum and swim upstream, etc. She wanted to walk our route in the reverse direction on Wednesday. I, being a creature of habit and probably having at least a mild case of OCD, did not. I did it though, because Coach Alex can be VERY persuasive. That is why she IS COACH Alex. Today I told her that I would be into walking one lap one direction and the second the opposite direction, starting on Monday. Then I gave in from there, without any prodding from Coach Alex and we started it today. I liked it! Now we get two different perspectives of the outside store windows and see things we didn't notice as much before. It's all good!
I didn't do so well on sleep, only 5 hours of down time. Not so disciplined there, but GOD is able!
I did well with my fluid intake. I stopped keeping track after two quarts, but it has been significantly more than that.
Well, I don't have much else to say at the moment. Thanks to all who pray for me, all who support me in my goals and efforts, those who kick my ass when necessary (or give me silence if it is deemed more effective!), etc.
I love all of you and appreciate all of you. I am very blessed to have family and friends like you.
Until later, Stay safe!
Hotflash out.
I am in a very up and happy mood! It seems my hero has been reading my blog and posted some kind comments on his own blog, the Engine 17 Project, about it. My brother is so AWESOME!
Today was a walking day so I made 10,982 steps, according to Pete. (That is the name I gave to my pedometer just this moment!) Pete's judgement is off when it comes to distance. This I am sure of because I clocked my walk route with my trip odometer in my car. That means that my stride is not correctly inputted into Pete's memory. Distance isn't that important though. I walked an entire hour and made my 10 trips up and down the steps. Monday I will begin making 12 trips each time. YAY ME!
Coach Alex loves to dance to the beat of a different drum and swim upstream, etc. She wanted to walk our route in the reverse direction on Wednesday. I, being a creature of habit and probably having at least a mild case of OCD, did not. I did it though, because Coach Alex can be VERY persuasive. That is why she IS COACH Alex. Today I told her that I would be into walking one lap one direction and the second the opposite direction, starting on Monday. Then I gave in from there, without any prodding from Coach Alex and we started it today. I liked it! Now we get two different perspectives of the outside store windows and see things we didn't notice as much before. It's all good!
I didn't do so well on sleep, only 5 hours of down time. Not so disciplined there, but GOD is able!
I did well with my fluid intake. I stopped keeping track after two quarts, but it has been significantly more than that.
Well, I don't have much else to say at the moment. Thanks to all who pray for me, all who support me in my goals and efforts, those who kick my ass when necessary (or give me silence if it is deemed more effective!), etc.
I love all of you and appreciate all of you. I am very blessed to have family and friends like you.
Until later, Stay safe!
Hotflash out.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Report From Ladder Company 40 -Day 17
Hi Team!
This will be a BRIEF post tonight. This EMT wannabe is TIRED!
Unfortunately I had another case of the stupid little reset button on the pedometer getting bumped. My nearest guess is that I walked approx 7,500-8,000 steps today. When I last looked around 3:30 it was at just under 5,800. Being only a guess however, I have no other associated stats to post.
I did marginally well on fluid intake today, about a quart and a half. NOt terrible, but not great either, especially after yesterday's victory.
I also didn't sleep well last night. I would say conservatively that I got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. That is not enough!
Tomorrow is a walk day and Coach Alex will be there with her smiling face and Kick Me in the Ass (if needed), take no excuses attitude. YAY ME!! I really do love my coach!! I couldn't be blessed with a better one!
For those of you supporting me in prayer, please pray for the knee to stop acting up and the foot to stop hurting. Thanks for your support. Thanks for reading my blog. Thanks for believing in me.
"It's about hopin'/ It's about dreamin'/ it's about never not believin'/
It's about takin' a walk out on the wire and never lookin' down/ It's about livin'/ It's never dyin'/ It's about spreadin' your wings and flyin'/yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/ It's all about tryin'" -Little Big Town, "Tryin'"
Until later, Stay Safe!
Hotflash out
This will be a BRIEF post tonight. This EMT wannabe is TIRED!
Unfortunately I had another case of the stupid little reset button on the pedometer getting bumped. My nearest guess is that I walked approx 7,500-8,000 steps today. When I last looked around 3:30 it was at just under 5,800. Being only a guess however, I have no other associated stats to post.
I did marginally well on fluid intake today, about a quart and a half. NOt terrible, but not great either, especially after yesterday's victory.
I also didn't sleep well last night. I would say conservatively that I got about 4 1/2 hours of sleep. That is not enough!
Tomorrow is a walk day and Coach Alex will be there with her smiling face and Kick Me in the Ass (if needed), take no excuses attitude. YAY ME!! I really do love my coach!! I couldn't be blessed with a better one!
For those of you supporting me in prayer, please pray for the knee to stop acting up and the foot to stop hurting. Thanks for your support. Thanks for reading my blog. Thanks for believing in me.
"It's about hopin'/ It's about dreamin'/ it's about never not believin'/
It's about takin' a walk out on the wire and never lookin' down/ It's about livin'/ It's never dyin'/ It's about spreadin' your wings and flyin'/yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah/ It's all about tryin'" -Little Big Town, "Tryin'"
Until later, Stay Safe!
Hotflash out
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