This is the only place it's quiet!

I know I have been quiet here recently.

Let me tell you, this is the only place it's been quiet. I mentioned we had H1N1 at our house (except for me) and now we have some other mystery something going around. We have approximately 140 square feet per person in this place and nowhere to put anything. (Does that makes sense?) I'm desperately afraid that in my quest to minimize I'm throwing out something I'd desperately want back at some point. (Happened when we got married, whoops.)

The "noisiest" thing (other than three squawking children and all the hullabaloo I mentioned in the previous paragraph) going on is that I'm kind of feeling purposeless and "mission-less". That makes a lot of noise and confusion in my head. I feel like I have my nose to the grindstone washing laundry, washing dishes (although I have hardly been cooking lately so I don't have any idea where the freaking dishes come from!), wiping noses and behinds and if I lift my head up too far then I will have to actually think about what my purpose is. I know, I know, you're going to recommend The Purpose Driven Life by Warren (or whoever that guy is) to me or something but that's not quite what I'm talking about. I feel like I am siting outside my own body watching myself engage in life and I am completely disengaged. I'm sure this is making no sense. It hardly makes any sense to me, which is why I'm trying to type through the confusion at the moment. I was pleading for a nanny the other day and a wise-cracking older friend told me to look in the mirror. It gave me a good chuckle but I had to honestly say -- I don't know who that is that is looking back at me in the mirror any more.... Oh! It must be the nanny then!!

I use the excuse that I'm a single wife of a LEO so I don't have time to [x, y, z]... but I wonder... when the kids are (more) grown, the J-O-B has died down, and I have my "self" back, what then? Will I make it until then?

So, ladies, what are you doing to take care of yourself NOW? Let me learn from you!!

Top 10 Tips for Total Wellness

I just found a link from LAPD Wife about a site called "Cops Alive" and a recent post they shared stating the top 10 tips for total wellness. (How I wish I could have thought of a word that began with "F" to replace "wellness"!!) Anyway, it might be worth a visit ~ nothing you don't already know but unfortunately they also include links to research and support from places like the Mayo Clinic (oy vey!) so now it's not just good advice your mom gave you ~ but you avoided ~ now it's the professionals!! ha ha.

Like I said, most of the top 10 will come as no surprise. I did laugh out loud when it got to #8: Be Moderate in Your Intake of Caffeine and Sugar and Don’t Use Tobacco. Although my husband does not use either of those (much ~ although he does love a good Coke!), I'm pretty sure the majority of cops we know smoke or drink (a lot of) coffee or both.

Might be worth a quick look... you might learn something and bookmarking the site might yield something healthful helpful down the road. who knows?!?

Who are YOU?

Mrs. Fuzz blogged today about a recent on-shift incident of her husband, HF. Evidently a concerned citizen really needed proof that he was a true-to-life, authorized, uniformed cop. You can read all about it here.

Although it's not identical, DH had a similarly interesting event happen to him on shift a while back. A young woman, who lived in a house with a bunch of other young ladies, had been inappropriately advanced upon by a male while walking home. Once she arrived back to her house, she told some of her housemates and eventually someone called 911 (or let's hope it was the non-emergency number since there was no immediate danger -- although I doubt it!) and requested an officer come by. On DH's beat, he took the call and when he arrived at the house someone let him in. Eventually several ladies descended upon him and demanded he leave the house until he could provide proper credentials.

Excuse me?

I know DH (and now all of you!) are thinking the same thing: "YOU called ME and now you want me to prove I'm the real deal?"

That would be one really sneaky criminal to
1) listen to the radio
2) beat the REAL cop to the address
3) be gone before the REAL cop shows up

Oh. My. I did forget to ask if these were all blondes. Given the law of averages I'm sure they were not. But I do wonder... was I really that dumb 10 years ago too? I hope not!!

Scrap Award

Mrs. Officer over at MrsOfficer2U sent The Honest Scrap award my way. It's been fun reading random, honest facts about folks in the blogsphere so I am finally, finally getting with it and contributing mine! Thanks for the link, Mrs. Officer!

Here are my 10 honest things:

1. I'm a third generation native of this fine state where I reside. In fact, before I moved away from my hometown, I was a third generation native of my hometown. Now that I am older I wish I still lived there, but I cannot convince my husband to move back to my hometown. :(

2. For the last 15 years I have lived within a 2 mile radius in an area that is usually pretty transient.

3. We don't give our kids sugar. By that I mean candy and dessert-type things. They eat muffins (occasionally), fruit, yogurt, and things like that but not the hardcore sugar. I figure some day that will all be over and that's fine. But I'm such a sugar addict I don't want them to get started using at such a young age!

4. I don't remember the first time I met my husband. We were in college and we were paired up to do an afternoon outreach event, but I have no recollection of the day. At the time he thought "I could marry this nerdy girl" (which I only found out the day he proposed, and almost caused me to say "Did you just call me nerdy? And ask me to marry you? No!!"). Five years after our initial meeting we were reacquainted (or acquainted, depending on who you ask!) and later married.

5. Instead of moving to West Africa, I married my husband.

6. I am a shopaholic. I was well trained by my mom. I learned how to calculate percentages by shopping the racks at Macy's at a young age. (Although back then it wasn't called Macy's.) I have champagne taste on a beer budget and I usually succeed with my champagne. I'm just patient, willing to buy high-quality used items, and always on the lookout for a great deal! :) One of my girlfriends claims I have built-in sale radar, finding things she didn't even know were right in front of her face. It's hilarious.

7. A huge defining event in my life is that my dad was diagnosed with a brain tumor just weeks after I left home for college. He died 18 months after his diagnosis, in the midst of all sorts of folks "dying on me" left and right. I'm not too skittish about death and talking about it because I've experienced plenty of it, and society does us a disservice by sweeping it under the rug.

8. My husband and I are different in almost every way imaginable. That makes for some great frustrations but great fun, too.

9. I'm (generally) a pretty friendly, outgoing person. However, I am a very private person. Being that I feel more anonymous on this blog, I let go of my obsessive need for privacy somewhat. :)

10. I have always wanted to work in the health care field or be a lawyer. It is so cliche but.. oh well. I'm already scheming about how I can go back to school in one of these fields once my babies are not such babies.

I'm taking the tack of copswife over at Married to the Law.... It feels like many of the folks in my little sphere have already done or been named, and I'd hate to hoist this on someone. So if you're reading this and you haven't done this yet, consider yourself tagged and get on with your 10 Honest Things! :)

Just lovely....

This sure helps the law enforcement community.... NOT!!!

link with video here:
Dirty Cops of the Day

Breaking News (of the family kind)

We are on the tail end of the H1N1 flu virus at our house (according to our pediatrician). I have a doozy of a story to tell you about the nasty, nasty person that DH had to transport from one jail ("We don't want this one any more so you can have him back") to another ("We won't take him") to another ("Don't worry, we'll bring out the brigade") (and they did -- all 20 of them) but in the meantime DH actually had to touch the guy and got spit on. Yes, spit is disgusting but my husband is probably more phobic about spit than anything else in the world. As he recounted to his supervisor, "I would have rather taken a bullet than get that nasty guy's spit on me!" (Of course I thought that was a little extreme, but to put it in perspective even I had doubts that he would ever kiss me because of his extreme spit phobia -- and so did lots of our friends!!)

Two days after this incident DH was very, very sick. (Not sure if it is a coincidence or what.)

Three days later Charlotte was running a 104.5 temperature with other flu-like symptoms.

The next day Austin started a fever and cough (that was all he got, thank GOODNESS!).

Two days later Dallas got it, and BOY! Let me tell you!! Do NOT let your baby get the H1N1 virus! ack!!!

So, I'm here to tell you, get vaccinated! I know, I know, I know!!! Touchy subject, and I actually think that one shouldn't discuss politics, religion, or vaccinating..... but woah. This is intense, especially on a little baby. I was totally on the fence about vaccinating against H1N1 -- in fact hadn't totally decided one way or the other -- but now I just feel so bad about it for my children. :( Added to the fact that the advice nurse was calmly telling me to rush to the Emergency Room, my pediatrician gave me her home phone number and has called me four times.... ack. When my health care professionals are that concerned, I get a little worried. The good news is that it finally seems like maybe we've turned the corner.

With that, I'll leave you with a fun item from Austin talking on the phone with my mom:

Grandma: "How are you feeling, Austin?"

Austin: "I feel good. Except I have a little cough."

Grandma: "Oh that's good. I'm glad you are feeling better."

Austin: "Yes, I only have my cough. It sounds like barking and a motor. You know, a motor that has a peanut stuck in it, it sounds like that."

Uh, yeah.... well, um... I have no idea where he got that or what a motor with a peanut stuck in it sounds like, but, there you have it folks! A day in the life at our house. We're on day 9 of the kids' illnesses (12 if you count DH) and I am totally thanking God that I have not gotten sick. Now, I'm off to nap while I... oh, um, I'm off to pick up the baby since he just woke up. Doh!!

Another Fallen Officer

This is a tragedy and, again, senseless. Please join me in praying for this officer's family and the Seattle Police Department.

Link here:
Seattle officer killed; police searching for suspects