Thankful

Just wanted to throw this little list together for the holiday.

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Our pets - or "Monsters" as we refer to them
4. Holiday traditions both new and old
5. Mimosas and Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
6. Sam
7. Being employeed
8. Friday Happy Hours
9. New adventures
10. My health
11. Sam being safe at work.

It's that time of year again.

To be honest, this image was too good to pass up. Who'd ever think to make a turkey shaped cake except Buddy, the Cake Boss?

I can't believe the holidays are upon us already and the new year just around the corner. And has it ever been a whirlwind of joy and crap. I can't complain. I've been quite blessed with with everything that has happened to me this year - I'll have to post my list tomorrow morning; much too exhausted tonight after waking at 5am for work plus overtime...again. In fact, I have yet to go home - currently at my parents house making an experimental pumpkin cheesecake for Thanksgiving tomorrow and waiting for them to get home to start and eat dinner.

Sam is working again this Thanksgiving so he won't get to enjoy festivities until Friday and Saturday. Then he'll have a nice little stretch off.

"We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude." - Cynthia Ozick

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone near and far. And if your officer is out there tonight, may he be watched over and kept safe so you can have Thanksgiving together when he comes home.

Winter blues

We've been busy. Really busy. Nothing new or exciting has really happened in all that time. I wish I had something more positive to report about Sam.

And me? Work was going fine this morning even in the freezing cold until like 20 minutes ago. I've just become depressively unmotivated to work today. I just learned (which I'm supposed to keep under wraps - shh!) that NFI's ( the company I work for) contract was denied for renewal by Triumph (we operate in their warehouse and shipping area). So by the end of this year I could be in limbo if Triumph doesn't want to hire me on. My boss said that the manager for Triumph did mention my name as someone he wants to roll over onto Triumph. He's been trying to get me to work for them since he started earlier this year.

It just sucks because if I leave to look for a job else where or decide to go to Triumph, I have to go through that lovely 90 days stint without benefits and I just got benefits and I was going to fill out for my 401K. I guess I'll have to reconsider that one. And to let my family and Sam know...yeah this is going to go over well. But at least I do have a high possibilty for the job, though I'm sure I'll have to apply for it, and negotiate my pay and title.

Both companies are supposed to be in talks today before publicly announcing to our little group about it. I'll definitely keep all up to date on this wonderful end of the year job chaos.

Let's have a riot

Sam is up with the sun today for work and he's not exactly happy about that. All yesterday he went on and on about how he didn't want to come into work today; a common occurrence in our house. But it's understandable. He's attending riot training all day today. In his words, he'll be getting gassed. I'm sure they'll be doing other things to train then just get gassed for 12 hours today.

Good luck at work today and see you when you get home.

May you rest in peace

The Jupiter Lighthouse, which usually appears red, was lit up using blue lights in honor of veteran Jupiter Police Officer Bruce St. Laurent, who was killed in the line of duty after being hit by a car while working in the presidential motorcade Sept. 9. A procession for Officer St. Laurent will be held in Jupiter today beginning at 1:30 p.m. followed by a grave site service at the Riverside Memorial Park which the public is welcome to attend. There is also live video stream of the funeral started at 11am.

I would have like to have watched some of it during my lunch hour but darn firewalls at work won't let us watch any kind of videos - can't even look at weather radar neither.

My condolences to his family at home and at the department. I know he will be missed.

Job newsies

Still no word on Sam's application, but he isn't getting too trodden down by that fact. His department though has an opening within their detective bureau and he's putting in for that. Fingers crossed yet again. I know he'll catch his break.

Good news on the job front for myself as well. At this morning's weekly warehouse meeting, I was officially announced (after finding out yesterday afternoon) the Lead of Shipping and Receiving. Finally some sort of authority with dealing with the other company's Supply Chain Manager (he's a MAJOR micro manager!).

Short post, sorry, worked a few 10-12hr days. Not fun so I'm exhausted...and the house is a mess.

Negative ions in the air

Just got finished watching Bill Engvall's stand up "15 Degrees Off Cool".

I hate being a "Negative Nancy" but it's looking like Sam may not get the job at the other department. BUT I hope that isn't the case.

This morning he got home late, 6:30am after going into work 3:30pm yesterday, and he's dealing with a cold = no fun for anyone in our house. Apparently it was a shit crazy night with shootings, they arrested over 15 people (7 of which were his arrests). He ended up getting into a few scuffles and got some scratches on his arm and hand. He said they had to call in County to come in and take half their calls because they were overrun and short-handed.

Any who, the reason I say he may not get the job is because his department just got him his own personalized business/case cards. Sounds like they're attempting to keep him. He and his dad were talking today while over for football that both departments are going through some turmoil and rank assignments. They didn't go into too much detail about it, which is a shame because I would've like to have known more.

I need to be a "Positive Peppermint Patty"! She also seemed like a positive-minded go-getter kind of girl.

Out of the woods

We survived the storm! It actually wasn't all that bad for us, though I felt I was developing a good case of cabin fever over the weekend. It rained nonstop! We were able to go out for a bit last night to let the dogs out and the night air felt wonderful; windy and very cool made it feel like we were in the middle of fall. And then it poured and we had to run back inside.

 Still no good news on Sam getting hired on with the other agency. There might be bad news as he put the other morning. The agency is thinking about stopping the hiring process. I hope that's not the case. Fingers crossed everyone!

Trouble in the tropics

Well Tropical Storm Isaac is on its way to Florida. And while our house is out of the cone of error, our county in under a Tropical Storm warning and we're due to start feeling the effects tonight or early morning sometime. Worse part is he's at work and I'm home alone.

It sucks but my saving grace is that he'll be home at 3:30 Sunday morning. It doesn't look like he'll have to live at the station during its course because we aren't in a directly affected area. If that was the case, I would probably pack up the pups and cat, get the house boarded and head to my parent's house to wait out the storm.

Just now watching an update. Isaac should impact the Keys tomorrow night. I'm giving myself the jitters. Hate this.

Feeling scammed

Last month Sam and I were talking about getting a home security system. He says that he'll have more peace of mind about me being home alone while he's working nights. We've been getting the mailing ads for ADT, you know the ones that say "Get an $850 valued home security system for free with $99 installation". This is pretty much what prompted us to give a call to ADT.

We gave them a call and set up a time for the home consultation, who happened to be a husband and wife team who actually live fairly close by to us. They dropped by in the afternoon got right down to business, showing us all the fancy applications with video surveillance you can access by either IPad or the Kindle. We get up and do the walk through so she can make a diagram of all the windows and doors on the house and what kind of security applications we'll put on them. Yada-yada. Sit back down at the table and that's when the train hit. She starts adding up all this stuff, and I think it was for the most secure and high-tech surveillance which came out close to $1800. Say what?!

Sam and I said we're feeling more comfortable with something a little more basic. They recalculated and came up with a figure around $550 mark. Okay, a little better but not one thing was mentioned about the $99 install. We thanked them and said we'd have to discuss it more in depth and would let them know. Immediately after they left Sam is looking into other security companies and subject kind of drops.

Until the other day. I came home from work and found that on Monday next week, we'll be the proud new owners of a newly installed ADT home security system. As it turns out, Sam got another postcard looking flyer about the ADT system but not from ADT, rather an authorized dealer. They got to talking and found that we had originally went through ADT's corporate office which is more expensive. So all of our doors and windows are covered, plus a motion sensor and wireless keypad. Not sure what everything eventually came to but I'm guessing it was cheaper than what we were originally offered.

I guess I'll be waking up to a house alarm going off for a minute or so for a couple of mornings starting next week. Lovely!

I saw a sign

When Sam came home this morning I was in a deep sleep, not even the dogs barked at him coming in the door like they used to. Strange too because I went to bed fairly early last night. After he finally got me up, he started telling me about his day. From what I can remember doesn't sound like much happened...which is a good thing.

He asked me if I had run into much traffic on our street when I got home. I said I didn't get home until late since I visited with my parents after work but noticed the flashing sign across the street from our drive about the lights being out. A few feet down our street is a small but relatively busy intersection with the 4-way-stop-flashing lights. Well there was an accident just before he was leaving for work. An elderly woman's car got totalled. And of course I can't find anything about it in the news online! Any way, Sam must have been coming down the driveway to go to work when a kid along the sidewalk stopped him saying there was a accident down the street. He got in his car and checked out the scene.

He thinks its a sign that he should be working for our city. I hope so! He's already heard from a few people that have switched over that they've put in multiple good words about him. Should be another couple weeks before we know anything for certain.

I've been around

We've been back in town since the 25th and busy trying to play catch up it feels like. I still haven't unpacked everything nor have I finished the vacation laundry - just the beach towels and a few shirts. We had a great time with my family. I don't know why but I was worried he wouldn't like it out in the wilderness but he loved it. In fact, as we were arriving home and the horrible realization he would have to go back to work he told me that he wanted to go back. Actually, he's talking about moving there. My plan has been set in motion!

Certain things seem to also be set in motion for the better. It was the beginning of June when he had applied to work at the neighboring city within the county's police department. We didn't think he was going to get the larger application packet since he and another officer has sent their preliminary applications a tad later than everyone else. But that Friday, and of course it was after he left for work, I checked the mail and saw the large manila envelope in the box. I don't know which one of us is more excited about it. He finally finished and dropped off the completed paperwork yesterday afternoon.

It's kind of sad though for the department he's at now. It's falling apart. He was telling my parents yesterday that there is a list of nearly 22 officers waiting to leave the department. They've also hired like 15 new officers. Sam goes from being one of the newer officers to being the veteran at only 3 years of service. The only thing he doesn't like about it is that he's not a hundred percent safe with the rookies; he says they're pretty timid on calls and where he's working up in the hood, timid makes you look weak and the residents have the upper hand. He knows the rookies will have his back, but I think he's just worried they might make a stupid mistake and someone gets injured because of it.

So we'll see. Everybody, keep your fingers crossed, knock on wood and rub those lucky charms that Sam gets hired with the department!

PS - I almost forgot. Tonight is his last night of summer school. All he needs to do is apply for graduation and he'll have his AS. Congrats babe!

Leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again.

Not true. We're going by car and will be back on Wednesday.

The much needed vacation time is upon us! Starting yesterday, Sam will be off for a solid week. No uniforms. No crazy calls to go to where people are calling the cops because someone threw a chicken wing at someone else (true story!). No more "don't-touch-me-until-I-take-a-shower" mornings. This is the time that I love the shift change, a whole 8 days of him to myself. I won't be so lucky 6 months from now because he'll have to work for the 8 straight. I was able to secure Friday, Monday and Tuesday, plus the weekend. So any who, we're getting the hell out of Dodge for a couple of days on a trip with my family.

2:30 today cannot come soon enough!

Cost of putting their lives on the line?

Article: City's police will now earn the wage of McDonald's cashiers

Apparently our men in blue and yellow jackets putting their lives on the line daily means nothing to this mayor of Scranton. He views that a man making $19 an hour to be possibly shot is way too much. So what does he feel they should be making? $7.25!!!! Are you kidding me! This man is gross and I don't like him. I don't even live in that town or state but this is a serious injustice! I seriously hope that this is reversed or vetoed. No officer or firefighter should be subjected to such a heinous pay. How can they be expected to sustain themselves or their families with that paycheck at the end of the week? That's not even living paycheck to paycheck.

Sam gets $16.90 an hour and he's basically living by paychecks every other week. He has to rely on working extra details for $28 an hour just to have extra money to either support the household or to put away into savings. He tells people all the time that I'm the breadwinner of the house at only $12.50 an hour (I've touched on this before and he has more being taken out of his paycheck biweekly. After everything has been deducted, his pay wage only equates to a little more than $11.50 an hour).

This has me so upset!

Send your prayers

Cop's 3-year-old son shot at home with handgun

Our thoughts and prayers go out to this officer and his family.

Getting crafty

So recently I've been storing wine bottles here and there around the house getting ready for a crafting project and maybe have a little side business but more like a hobby. Once I get it going I'll be sure to post on here for anyone's interest and maybe on Etsy.

I actually spent most of yesterday trying to figure out a name for my little shop. I still don't like it though because the name I did want was already in use. I'm thinking of calling it "The Bluebird". Its been a bit of an inspiration lately. I'd like to take a part of the proceeds and put it to a police or law enforcement related fund, but I'll have to look more closely into that avenue.

Nothing is quite set yet, it's more of a mess with me gathering supplies here and there and researching. My favorite part so far will be drinking the wine.

Manic Mondays

I hate updating my blog on Mondays while at work...though I feel at 6am it's the only time I'll find for the day. I hate it because I can't read anyone else's blogs, work has a firewall set up for any page that contains Youtube videos, but yet I have all the access in the world for Facebook. Makes no sense. I don't think today will be too manic. I'm only at work for another hour and a half before I need to leave to take the cat to the vet. He's getting bloodwork for surgery on Friday. And even though I won't be getting paid, it'll be a nice escape from work because I really don't want to be here today.

Yesterday or last night rather, Sam signed up for the firearms instructor class. I hope he gets it. I think it would look good on his law enforcement resume...or a jacket I think is the term that they use. He's already been radar and CIT certified. He doesn't sound hopefully of getting in the class but I hope he does.

A sign of good things to come?

It's only the start of July but already things are going very well for us. We celebrated our 2 year anniversary together on the 29th. I just can't believe it's only been 2 years; it seems like we've been together for a little longer than that. It was nice too having a night together. Even though we don't have children (aside from our 2 dogs and 1 cat or "our monsters") with our job hours, his extra details and now his classes, it doesn't leave much time for us to spend much time together and when it does, we're both exhausted. I think in the past few weeks we've only seen each other maybe 3 or 4 days - very much a "passing ships in the night" sort of syndrome. We're hoping that if he's able to get picked up by the new department that he won't have to do crazy details for extra money and we'll get to see one another more. Of course if he stays where he is now, in another year he'll be switching to the day shift and then we'll both be together during the evenings.

Yesterday after getting home from his parents we were putsing around the house. He has to stay up late on Saturday night so he can sleep longer during the day on Sunday before leaving for work in the afternoon. I guess I had dozed off on the couch around 10pm waiting for him to get done on the computer. He woke me around 11pm saying that he was putting me to bed and proceeded to pick me up and carry me into the bedroom with me nagging him to put me down. I was worried about his shoulder since it was still sore from tackling a guy at work like a month ago. But nope, he refused to until he dropped me in the bed with a very proud look on his face. So I asked him, "What are doing, carrying me across the threshold?"

"Not yet."

"Does that mean you will?"

"Some day."

Needless to say I slept very well last night.

Cost of necessary help

Just ran across this blog article during lunch. I had an idea that many cities and agencies probably have a price for 911 calls. I think ours is included within our phone bill/plan. I know in some areas regarding house fires, firefighters may not try to put it out because the family hasn't paid for some kind of tax - I know what its called. Ugh, its on the tip of my tongue. But hell, if I need 911 I'm going to call and I'll dispute the costs later.

In The News: Paying for 911 calls

When the city of Tracy, California, announced it would charge residents $300 for placing a 911 emergency medical call, a solution to municipal deficit mushroomed into a national debate about personal versus governmental responsibility.

Sacramento’s CBS 13 news reported that the city planned to fill some of its $9 million budget deficit by levying 911 fees, giving Tracy residents a choice of paying a “voluntary” annual charge of $48 per household for unlimited 911 calls, or $300 at the time of a call.

Residents were predictably opposed to the plan. “This is a terrible idea,” one commented, “especially when people already pay taxes for emergency services.” Another hypothesized, “I see a cop get shot by a thug. So the city is going to charge me $300 for calling 911?”

The story gathered national attention, culminating with an opinion piece by Thomas L. Friedman in The New York Times. Writing about the Tracy 911 charges in a column entitled “The Fat Lady Has Sung,” Friedman said “it feels as if we are entering a new era” — described by Johns Hopkins University foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum as one “where the great task of government and of leadership is going to be about taking things away from people.”

Tell us what you think: Is it right for governments to charge residents for placing 911 emergency calls? How much would you be willing to pay per call?

 

Recess and Summer Vacations = Best part of school

Not so for Sam!

About a month ago he was looking into completing his college education to get his two year degree. I guess at the time he was accepted into the academy and he didn't finish...well something like that. As it turns out he had his AA all along but not the actual diploma. No one at the college had told him he had to apply for graduation even if he wasn't going to be walking.

So two years later, he finally has his diploma and also learned he was only 4 credits away from his AS in Criminal Justice. He starts summer school today I think. Then he'll be thinking of getting his bachelors in public service administration. So happy and proud of him.

Should've Had a Storm Warning

Sam hates that we're in hurricane season right now. I'm sure as soon as there is one headed for us, I'm going to hate it too. It's becoming a semi-reality with Tropical Storm Debby's outerbands impacting our area from the Gulf. For when a storm is brewing the police have to move in and bunk out at the station. I'm not looking forward to that.

We'll have to have a serious talk about what our storm plans are on Wednesday when he's finally done with the work week. I'll need to learn to get the shutters out and up on the house if I need to. Though I'm sure his family would be at house to help if I needed and there's his friend Dan and my friend/co-worker Martin who live close by who could lend a hand. But it be could if I could help out with that. And I certainly wouldn't be staying in the house by my lonesome with 2 dogs and a cat. We'd all be going stir crazy and there would definitely be no sleep. I would probably pack us all up and head to either my parents or his who live just about 25 minutes south.

But a plan would definitely be good. I think we'd both feel more at ease.

Sitting on fences

Again. Sam is back on the fence again with work. He's only been with the department two and a half years and I think he's gone back and forth too many times to count. He loves his job. He hates his job. He likes his job and is thinking of making detective. He despises work and can't wait to get out of policing all together. They give him a shotgun and work is okay again.

Now he's talking about transferring to the other city department in our county. Not sure how long he's been juggling the idea but I was informed this morning when he got in after shift. If he transfers, he said it'll be a $10,000 raise with the opportunity for advancement, he'll be dealing with white people, and he could go all shift and not get a call. Probably not the best thing to hear but its better than getting paid next to nothing, dealing with people who live in Section 8 housing areas (I think that's what he refers to it) and constantly getting shot at.

So I guess we'll see what decision he'll make. I'm sure I'll be posting in another week or so about how he's changed plans again. What ever keeps him happy and safe.

Get down with the sickness

Decided to catch up on the local news. You'd think by living with a cop and watching all kinds of crime shows I would be up-to-date on the latest hoaxes and what not. Well I definitely just got an education.

Have you heard of this phenomenon 'swatting'? Not sure if this is some new thing that's been thought up to waste manpower but this is the article I read: 'Swatting' prank in Palm City feigns violence. I thought 'swatting' would be explained in the opening of the article and not at the end. It's disturbing to say the least. So "swatting" according to the article is a 'prank in which those experienced in computer hacking will utilize hacked lines and Internet connections to initiate a SWAT response from law enforcement by reporting violent and heinous in-progress incidents."

I couldn't begin to imagine what's going on through an officer's mind when he/she gets dispatched to a call like this.

I can't dwell on this subject anymore.

Keep Calm And Carry A Fancy Gun

That's the simple mantra I have had to keep telling myself over the weekend...the first part anyway haha. Found out this weekend that some scuzz bucket of a person swiped my credit card number and started making charges to my account. Luckily they were only able to make one charge before my credit card company froze my account on the suspicious charges. They made a purchase online for almost $400 bucks to somewhere in Hong Kong of all places and tried to make a $79 purchase on designer handbags. I wanted to rip someones head off.
In a way though, I'm lucky that it was only my credit card account and not my debit card/bank account. But now I'm without a credit card for the next week and I'm sure I'll be contacted again while the company runs their investigation.
Grrr! They probably won't catch these people but if they do, upon my wishful thinking, I hope they fry. It just sucks.

Lost my dinner

Missed a call from Sam the other night while he was working. It was only 10:55 PM, what girl isn't getting her beauty rest at that hour? Texted him the next day while I was at work before he was getting ready to leave that I was sorry I missed his call. He said it was okay, he was calling to tell me there was an alligator loose in the neighborhood and not to go outside. I guess he didn't want me or the dogs to get eaten by a gator but I had other things on my mind. I texted him back saying that we could've had fresh gator meat!

I'll have to order some from Publix one of these days so he can experiment on frying up some gator tail. Yum!

Workin' for the weekend!

I swear today took forever to get through AND its only Thursday...well pratically Friday. Thank goodness. Two reasons: end of the work week and I'm pretty sure tomorrow is my payday. I have enough of work this past week to probably last me a good month. I'm more excited about Saturday though, we're going to be headed out to the range. Finally!

It was my idea. He's been to the range a couple times this past month and for work in order to qualify. I haven't been in months and I'm itching to get out there.

I'm sure too I'll be asked again by him when I'm going to get a gun. Truth is, I'm not sure. I don't even know what kind of gun I want. I really like his service weapon...a Glock 22 I think, but the hand grip is slightly cumbersome for my smaller hands.

Regardless, I need a chance to relax this weekend and being with Sam at the range is definitely going to be a great start. I'm also hoping to get in some workout time as well.

The swing

I thought about titling this post "the revolving door" but that always carries such a negative conotation and I thought swings are always fun.

One minute Sam is absolutely certain that he wants out of his city and out of the force. He curses it. Swears up and down that he hates work and will never go back. I hear about it literaly 24/7. But it takes one dinner with my parents this weekend and he was backpeddling just a little. He went on an undercover bit Friday morning and the few arsons that popped up and he was all excited about being a cop again, talking to my parents about trying for the detective bureau. I swear, I can't win with this man.

But then he hates having the posibility of blood on his hands. He almost killed a man on a call. He had the conscious thought to put a bullet in the man's head if he made the slightest movement. Please excuse my graphic description. He has a habit of telling me about work in a pretty raw and honest manner. He was on a call to a suspicious person sitting in a car. He approached the car, the man was sitting in the front seat slumped over and his hands out of sight. He shone his light in the car and saw the gun on the man's lap. The man was unresponsive, passed out drunk, a fact he says saved the man's life.

I'm not sure if he's still bothered by it or if he loses sleep over it. He can't exactly afford to lose sleep over it but I do think he still thinks about it and tries not too. I think I'm the one that loses sleep over things that happen at his work. Its why I stay up late on nights that I have to be up early for work the next morning...much like tonight. At least its his short week so I'll only be up late three nights this week instead of four. I wish I had more control over these nights.

Worry wort

I was taking the dogs out this evening when the lights and sirens came whirring by as local boys ran code three somewhere down the street. It reminded me of how much I (constently) worry about Sam when he works graveyard. But it also made me wonder if he ever worries about me home alone at night.

I asked him thinking he'd come back with a slick answer of how I have two guns in the house. But no. He said that he did worry about me. For good reason, I worry about myself too. I'll be glad when he's in a normal job with normal hours, we won't have to worry about each other.

Things change. And friends leave. Life doesn't stop for anybody

(quote by Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower)

Big changes are coming for Sam and I. I may have touched on this earlier in the blog but if I haven't, Sam has chosen to leave the force for good. I believe its a choice for the better. The department he works for isn't the fairest, in fact I think he mentioned that over 30 officers have left the department in the two years he's been there and another ten or eleven officers are set to leave this year. I love that he's my officer but I'll be happy when he leaves for good.

He gets treated like shit to put it simply. Overworked, under appreciated and under paid. I just became a full-time employee at my job making $12.50 an hour, so a little under $1000 every two weeks after taxes. My last paycheck with twelve hours over time I came in over $1000. He saw and actually took a picture of my paycheck and sent it to Dan (who just left the department last week) stating that even though I make less than him hourly ($16.90 an hour), at the end of two weeks I in fact make more. I'm currently the breadwinner in the household....which I think upsets him. He shouldn't have to live paycheck to paycheck, which is his current financial situation. We didn't go to the movies this weekend because there is no money in his bank account. My offering to pay doesn't seem to help his position.

I think he's leaning toward nursing. He was talking with a nurse down in the ER when he was there during shift. The nurse said they made $40 an hour. I would like to think a person who has the chance to be shot at every day at work should be making the $40 an hour. He hasn't started applying yet; I think he wants to talk to someone at the community college about classes before hand. Maybe he'll start looking into that soon.

As for me. I've gotten two job offers for the company my company is contracted by. I don't have full details yet, so I'm not about to make my decisions but it seems that both do make more money. Hopefully this week I'll have more of an idea what the positions are and what they entail.

Feel Safe At Night

Sam is back to working and I'm already having trouble adjusting. I guess I've gotten used to him being home every day and night for the past few months. I didn't enjoy seeing that uniform come back out of the closet.

Ugh...worse part is that I hate being in the house at night alone. I've always been that way though. I have trouble getting to sleep because I hear what seems to be everything - house settling, creaks, whispers, chattering of the dustbunnies. It prolongs me from sleeping and now that I'll worry about him will keep me up even longer. Well I'll get through it and I've got the puppies and our newest edition to the family - a fourth month old kitten. But I can't wait for him to get home so I can see him for like an hour before I have to go to work.

Challenge!

Store closings mean store wide clearance sales! We just picked up a Nordic Track treadmill regularly at $1300 for a whopping $700!! Talk about a win. Sam has used it a few times already but I have yet to clock some mileage. I've been meaning too because the both of us need to get back in shape. I'm not happy at the weight I am and unfortunately its all gone to my belly and my thighs just a smidge. Becoming recently fully employed working 40+ hours 5 days a week, I just don't feel energized to jump on a treadmill even if its for an hour or so. I need to though and have been meaning too for the past week.

I'm currently an unappetizing 146 lbs. Makes me cringe that Sam still finds me attractive. But I guess I could say the same about him. He thinks he looks disgusting with his belly and I find him still as sexy as ever. I'd like to get back down to my 125 range. Once there I can finally get my tattoo!!! I'll either get my left shoulder done or start my lower back. Both I've wanted for a few years now. Hopefully my lower back one won't be too expensive....I had gotten it priced once at a shop near my college. The price I was told was a bit high and that artist does tend to over charge. I think it was around $300 just for the outline. I decided to just stick with the shop that I got my first tattoo. They were reasonable and I liked the shop atmosphere. I've since added another element to the tattoo, which I may or may not keep. I just hope I'm not getting in over my head.

I'll be posting updates now and again.

I thought I disliked Mondays.

I'm not a morning person by any means and when it comes to being up at the crack of dawn to drive to work, I just want to get it over with. So I'm going along as usual business when I see in my rear mirror I've been lit up. Are you kidding me? I'm almost to the light. I move over to my right, he moves too. Damn. Move another lane and he's on me like Peter Pan's shadow. Move one more and into the parking lot of a bank on the corner, and we could have entered the Olympics as a synchronized swim team. He approached the car stating he had pulled me for a 55 in a 45 back a ways. I apologized and dug through my bag to get my license, registration and insurance.

"Are you in a rush this morning?"

"Nope, just on my way to work at the airport." (Not more than five minutes around the corner....grumble). "Well here is my license and registration and I know my insurance is in here. I just got the car about a month ago."

"Hmm. What time do you have to be at work?"

"6am." (You only pulled me over at 5 til)

"Do you have a good driving record? No tickets?"

(Well I can see you are Mr. No-Nonsense in the morning.) "Good driving record and no tickets. I can't find it, its not in here." (I couldn't believe I hadn't put my new insurance card in my car. Stupid!)

Well he only gave me a written warning for the speed and a citation for the no insurance. Be certain I will be at court within thirty days to lessen my fees and I will not forget my insurance...which is probably sitting on the desk at home. First time for being pulled over, woohoo! I just wished it hadn't been so early in the morning.

I'm still around

Well we're still around. Sam is still recooperating from December's episode. He was just recently cleared for work next week. We still don't know what exactly happened but the family (diverse medical backgrounds) are leaning toward SVT (Supraventricular tachycardia), so as long as he stays on the medication. I just wish in these past few months we had gotten a more definite diagnosis from the doctors. He's very dissatisfied with the specialist, who told him that he would grow out of the condition and to suck it up and go back to work. All we can do is keep an eye on and pray it doesn't get any worse.

He's been doing a lot of thinking too with all this time spent at home and away from the streets. He's been thinking of getting out of the police business going back to school for a degree. I support his decision a 100%! I love that he's a cop but I hate having those thoughts that he could be hurt --more seriously, on a regular basis. And he sees that police work isn't all that its cracked up to be. What we think police do and what they actually do, he's seen as two different things. Even if he gets out of the line of work, he'll still always be my handsome officer.

I've been busy too these past few months. Since moving in, I've become the quote-unquote breadwinner of the household now that I'm a full-time employee...oh which reminds me I need to complete my benefits package. I just wish I could stay home with him all day...work is bleck! Money is nice but I hate being swamped with work and practically forced to work overtime. Downside...our romance has dwindled a bit in the process, but that's nothing we can't work with. Hopefully I'll get back into blogging and writing within the next week or so. I miss it.