Just Give Me a Schedule

I live and die by my calendar.  Cozi is my friend - a special thanks to one of my favorite fire wives.  That is all there is to it.



Football has stolen my life.  I live and breathe NFL football in the fall anyway, but now it is really my life. Dinner, yeah, it doesn't happen.  I feed my oldest at 3pm before he changes.  I then make a picnic lunch for the other three - with an extra sandwich and fruit for N after the game.  We drive through rush hour to the practice field two counties away- AH, the joys of residency restrictions.  We have to pack some things to do for the 2+ hour practice and then it is time to come home - by 8pm.  I am missing the days of 1 practice a week plus the game.  I wish our field at school was ready - then I could at least work in my classroom while they practice.  Throw a  DVD up on the wall and voila, instant peace.

The MOST frustrating part, however, is that I have no football schedule.  Nothing in my hand or in my email.  No idea of games or practice times.  So, planning is a total nightmare.  I found out Monday that there is a scrimmage on Tuesday.  I also found on Monday that pictures, weigh-in and THREE scrimmage games are on Saturday.  Nevermind that we have a birthday party planned for B at noon and J and I have Brewers tickets to make up for our date night not happening earlier this month.  Some advanced notice would be nice.  With the crazy scheduling that comes with this crazy fire life, the fact that we live two counties away from school and the silly detail about me going back to work next Monday - I NEED A SCHEDULE.  I am trying to be patient.  My in-laws were gracious enough to help us out with Saturday.  But this just sends my control freak OCD nature into an anxiety laced frenzy.  My FF is going to football practice tonight, perhaps he can come home with a schedule so that I know how in the HECK I will be able to make this happen once school starts.  

Doesn't he know about the Fire Life schedule!   Aye!

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

We are getting to that time of the calendar - Back to School.  Supplies, bags, fees.  It is an expensive time frame in our household.  I scoured the sales for supplies and made trips to a few different stores and got that taken care of.  Now, I have to feed the children.  Ugh!!  It will actually be cheaper, in the long run, I guess, because they won't be asking for snacks every 32.6 minutes.  But, I also need easy.  We live 38 minutes from where I teach.  I like to get to school around 6:30am.  My students start wandering in my room around 7:20ish, the bell rings at 7:35.  The three stooges are still at our lower campus, which doesn't start until 7:50am.  Causes a little bit of a logistical issue, but we make it work.  Because it is such an early start to the day, I need easy for lunch.  We did the Uncrustable thing for a bit.  The convenience is nice, but that is a lot of money for PB&J.  I just couldn't get myself to accept that price.  I tried having N make sandwiches as part of his chores, well just the sandwiches took him 45 minutes or so.  That did not work.  I am so not sure what he did for that whole time, but he makes the more simplistic of tasks into monumental projects at times.

So this summer I started looking into making sandwiches ahead of time.  Tossing them in the fridge doesn't work, the bread gets hard.  Freezing them worked for the Uncrustables, so I thought I would try that.  I looked on line for Uncrustable makers, just on a whim.  I found that Wonder Bread made such device and HAD to order it.  



Today is our trial run.  I made 10 sandwiches which is 2 1/2 lunches for our crew.  Good to know, I never really paid too much attention to how much bread we used just for packing lunches.  A week's worth will take 2 loaves.  My goal is to make a week's work on Saturday or Sunday, whenever daddy is working.  It is so much easier to grab a sandwich and throw it in a box and into the lunchboxes on school days.

After a bit of research, I decided to put PB on both pieces of bread, with the jelly on just one.  The Peanut Butter would then act as a barrier so the jelly doesn't soak through.

Here it is pictures.  I hope it will work.  Time is of the essence in our home during the school year!

We eat the ends around here.  I just slather them with PB or Jam and
they don't know the difference.

On to the jam...

Ready for the freezer.  Not quite as pretty as Smucker's version
but mine comes with a momma's love.
Smucker's can't offer that.

And like all things in the kitchen, I have a helper.




I'll let you know how it works, tomorrow!

And for my girl who is trying to get me to watch Family Guy, here ya go...

Things That Go Bump in the Night

You know how it is.  You're sure you heard something, but you don't want to wake him up and take the razzing for being the damsel in distress.  Except that he's not here.  And that means there is no one to bust your chops if it is all for nothing.  But after our home was invaded six months ago, I am much more trusting of my gut, even if it means I take some crap if I am wrong.  There are four sleeping angels who trust me to keep them safe.  I need to do that.  

I know I have a couple hundred pounds of canine that have thousands of years of guarding instincts running through their veins.  I also know that there is an amazing firewife just next door.  Our FFs work the same shift and she would be here in a heartbeat.  There's another fire family - with the exact same house number just a few streets away, that I am certain would be here if something was wrong.  I know I am okay.  I know the kids are okay.  The pyrs are sleeping soundly - one by the front door - because B fell asleep on the couch and I left him there - and the other at the foot of my bed, protecting me.  They will tell me at their first inclination that something is off.  And they will protect us to their death.  I know that. 

But as I started to drift off, I heard something.  And the adrenaline kicked in.  And now I am WIDE awake.

8AM mass will be here soon.  I need to turn off my radar ears and get my juices to quit flowing quite so quickly.  Netflix will rescue me, I am certain.  But, what if I heard something...

Ahh, the things that go bump in the night.  Such is the life of a firewife.

Kiss your firefighters, tell them how much you love them.  Hug your kids and be sure they know how amazing they are.  Everyday.

"You Wanna Be Dead?"

Our oldest, N, is starting football this year.  He is going into 7th grade.  Our school lives and breathes football. He just couldn't wait to be part of that world.  We started practices last week.  2 hours a day, Monday through Friday and we still have 20 days until school starts for the kids.  Now, N is lightening fast and has amazing stamina for such a strong sprinter.  Best of both worlds, and if it lasts, I will probably find myself fighting a bit of envy with my slow-twitch fiber self.

Every AM, he has gone for a run - which I have worked very hard with him on his form.  I don't run like a girl, he sure as heck won't run like a girl.  After his run, with his FB helmet on, he also has been going on a 45 minute bike ride.  Also, a good thing.  But when he walked in the front door - without his bike helmet - he caught the wrath of Daddy.  Yeah, Daddy doesn't do well with that idea.  I even started wearing a bike helmet 10 years ago because of Daddy.  He had a nasty accident in high school and totally attributes his lack of brain damage to that helmet.  He also brought up someone we know who did not have their bike helmet on.  

"You wanna be dead?"  What a way to start a discussion!  Never raised his voice, but got N's attention.  "Or do you want them to cut out a piece of your skull and insert it into your stomach until the swelling of your brain comes down and they can put it back in your head?  You might be lucky enough for that option."  I was waiting for him to offer to take him to see someone who has been through such an accident.  Tough love.  Yeah, there's no mincing words with a paramedic daddy who survived a nasty bike accident with a minor concussion and some nasty road rash, but nothing more.

Moral of the day?  If you don't want to be dead, wear your bike helmet.

Hug your kids and kiss your FFs.  Have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday - Football Edition

We have left the world of soccer and entered the world of football.  Wish us luck!  And post your link to your Wordless Wednesday post.

And of course D's got to get into the action.  Notice the flower.

The Happy Little Princess

Tragedy Strikes

It has been a crazy week in our household.  So crazy that our mystery date did not happen.  That is a story for another day.  Disappointing to be sure, but what are you gonna do?  However, it has been even crazier for our community.

Last week, we lost one of our Sheriff's deputies - Sergio Aleman, in a tragic accident during rush hour.  He was married and a father of five children.  He was also the uncle of my husband's partner.  And, by the grace of God, it was a Blue shift.  Had it been 24 hours earlier, they would have been the ones on scene.  J mentioned he was SO glad to not be on that call one we heard the details and was even more relieved after he talked to his partner.  Please send prayers to his family during this time of grief and heartbreak.  May God be with them and make His healing presence known and bring them acceptance.  The funeral is this morning.  I hope it brings peace and closure.

 

And then on Sunday.  One of those things that happens, but not here.  We see it on the news, but it would NEVER happen here.  We all watched Aurora tried and make sense of the tragedy last month.  Who knew where Oak Creek, Wisconsin was before Sunday?  

I was watching Oddities (I LOVE that show) wrapping D's headphones for school when my phone rang. It was my fellow fire wife neighbor - who was at work.  "Is J at the temple??"  I literally looked at my phone like she was crazy.  I asked her what she was talking about. "Oh, my god, you don't know." And she then quickly told me to turn on the news.   A gunman had opened fire at the Sikh Temple 10 minutes from our homes, at this point there were reports of 2, maybe 3 gunmen.  There was talk of 29 people down.  A Oak Creek police officer was down.  20+ med units from at least 6 departments, including our own.  J was on shift.  Now, I KNOW, they would not send the meds in until the scene is secure.  I KNOW they would not create more casualties.  But, that does not mean my heart did not drop a bit as I watched the coverage and tried to figure out which units were there.  I did not need him on scene with a barrage of crazed lunatics with weapons.  I sent him a text, figuring he would probably respond pretty quickly to let me know all was well.  45 minutes later I left him a Voicemail asking him to just check in with me to let me know he was not there.  I never actually CALL him at work.  He is at the 2nd busiest med house in the state.  15-18 runs a day is more of the norm than the exception.

An hour later he got back to me and I was able to breathe a bit easier.  It was Med 10 and Med 15 that was there, not my hubby.

Two messages here.
Spouses of firefighters and law enforcement.  Make sure you tell your significant other that you love them before they leave for their shift.  You just never know.   It is simply the nature of their profession.  Safety comes first, but you can only train and plan for so much.  Some things are just out of our control.  Also make sure you have some plan in place for communication in times of such intense events.  I have always had a plan for the possibility that I find myself raising my children alone, make sure you talk about it.  It is uncomfortable, it is scary.  But, it is, however, a very real possibility.

And more of a general message, be educated not ignorant.  The Sikh community around the world is grieving.  They have had so many senseless attacks on their temples, their gurdwaras, since the Twin Towers fell.   And no one of their faith was involved with the tragedies of 9/11.  They are a peaceful community, there is no call for this violence.  Now, that being said, what we have learned about the gunman leads me to believe that no amount of education would have stopped him.  He was angry and hate-filled. His music spread these messages of hate.  The military would not re-enlist him.  He was not okay.  I will not mention his name, this is not about him.  This is about those whose lives will never be the same because of his angry hatred.

Please offer prayers for our community.  Prayers for the families of the victims of this senseless hatred and prayers for the Sikh community.  Please also keep Dep. Aleman's family in your prayers as well, as they say their final good-byes today. 


Hug your kids and kiss your firefighters.  Make sure they know you love them.