Fun Snow Day

Posted on January 18, 2012 by HotWife

As some of you may have heard around Northern America, we’re in the middle of snowmaggedon here in the Seattle area. WOOHOOOOOO 8″ of snow here.

Thankfully we had so much notice that it’s no big deal for my family and I. We canceled some plans and we have all the essentials. I’d prefer if the power didn’t go out, but we’ll be ok for a bit if that happens as well. Our snow is really wet and heavy so power outages are common. All the trees look like they want to fall over from the weight of it right now.

But yesterday was the day before snowmaggedon was supposed to hit. We just got a taste of it but it was enough to have a snowday. So we called friends and went off to bum their snow. They are up higher in the hills with much more snow than we get. We did a little of everything. Sledding, quading, shooting, everything except a campfire and not sure why that didn’t happen. We just didn’t think of it lol Too many firefighters so why would we start a fire for heat?

It was our oldest first time on a quad and she’s getting her license soon. What better option than to teach her how to slide around in the snow right? She’s a really cautious kid so it was awesome to see her smiling and letting loose a little.

Which is the complete opposite of the youngest you can see in the second picture here. He rigged up an old, little skateboard with some rails for turning and shoelaces as bindings.  He spent a bunch of time waxing it up and then wanted to be drug around everywhere by the quad. The men in my life are addicted to youtube and creating stuff.

By the time we got home last night we were beat. I’m amazed I didn’t have a heart attack trekking up the sledding hill in the 8″+ of snow.  I then had to walk back down because I didn’t want my video camera broken.  Down isn’t easy either when everyone has packed the snow down with sleds and a snowboard and you are trying NOT to fall on your butt.

We had an incredible time with our friends and now I’m even more ready to move onto property.  It’s still hard to believe that the guys have a 4 day while this weather is going on. I’m glad for a few reasons. One, we all got to enjoy fun in the snow together. But two, I’d be worried about them going on MVA’s in this.  People around here are extra stupid since we don’t get much snow.

Snowmaggedon was supposed to deliver 10″ of snow today, but of course it didn’t.  There are still 6.5 hours of the day to go and noaa.gov says more snow, but I’m not holding my breath. We probably got around 4″ today so it was a big disappointment from what was forecasted.  Hoping for at least another couple of inches tonight. We even let son’s friend stay over because we expect no school tomorrow. OR they’ll possibly be tired at school since we’ve jinxed the snow by letting him stay over.

I’d like to end this post with a picture of a one of a kind refrigerated picnic table.  Don’t you wish you had one to keep your beverages icy cold?

 

Posted in Everyday, Family | Tagged , | 6 Comments

8 Top Viewed Posts of 2011

Posted on December 27, 2011 by HotWife

The holidays are busy so I’m trying to find some balance between the personal life and getting an early start on my new years business goals.  Getting posts up regularly is top of that list here on the site for 2012.

I’ve also been going through stats and seeing what is keeping people entertained.

Here are the top 8 posts viewed for 2011 in no particular order.

Call Waiting

My Knee Hurts Now

Should you Marry a Firefighter?

A Firefighters Wife

Firefighter Christmas Cards

Poem for a Firemans Wife

Pros and Cons of Being a Firewife

Rekindled Fire Christmas Stocking Review

Posted in Everyday | 3 Comments

Merry Christmas to my FireFamily

Posted on December 25, 2011 by HotWife

Oh what a day!

No, I didn’t schedule this post. I’d actually planned on it being a Christmas Eve post but I missed that by a bit. lol It’s 1:30am right now as I start this post and it’s been busy, busy, busy. But it’s been very cool since hubby was on shift and very different than other holiday shifts. It could have been pretty sad easily and I’m thankful for the help making it more fun.

I’d like to start with a disclaimer that I’m up so late because I had to finish my Mom’s present. Of which I could have finished how long ago? My fault completely there. BUT then I also had to wrap other presents. See, hubby was busy harassing me to make a list for over a month of what I wanted for Christmas, but he just made his final list 4 days ago. Yes, that gave me a ton of shopping time didn’t it? Plus it wasn’t the same stuff he was talking about a month ago, then not the same stuff that he said he wanted 2 weeks ago. Got stuff off his list an finally figured out what to get my family as well. Next year I really need to plan that out better.

Thankfully, I was able to buy his Kindle Fire straight out of my own money so I could hide the purchase. We’ll see how it youtubes. That’s the biggest thing he will be doing with it so I think it will work just fine.

When he works on a holiday it kinda sucks. But I try putting new traditions in when I can. If I need them, then of course the kids do as well. I have brought these kids up with odd traditions because of our odd schedule over the years with construction and fire. I was going in with a combo of some previous years plans before the talk went out to have Christmas Even dinner at the station.

Working at the main station means planning any event there can be kind of a joke. It’s generally really busy. However, we all tried to plan for that. We have a Ronco Rotisserie and used it to cook the beef. It didn’t take long and they could set it and forget it. The kids and I were coming in during that time so there was no emergency issue. None of us want to burn down the station. How embarrassing would that be?! All the other wives brought in dishes to share. We had PLENTY of food.

The guys were just cleaning up and most of the dishes done when the tones went off. We got darn lucky with the timing. It was just us girls with the kids waiting to see how long the call would be. We’re all comfortable with each other so it was different than hanging out has been in the past. Fun time chatting a bit, catching up and eventually giving up on the guys coming right back. Lot’s of other stuff we all had to do.

The kids and I then drove around looking at Christmas lights for a couple of hours and annoying each other with music. I wish I had enough power outlets to create the smurf house in red at our house. It was amazing and pictures just can’t give you even close to an idea of how bright it is. Their neighbors must have to get blackout shades to sleep.

I hope you have a Merry Christmas with your family no matter where they may be this year. Look at creating new traditions wherever possible :)

Posted in Cheers, Everyday, Family | Leave a comment

Side Jobs or Hobbies

Posted on December 20, 2011 by HotWife

I know that many have no choice but to work a second job around their firefighter gig. Thankfully we are not in that position, but that does mean he has quite the free time to fill. Well he’s got a new hobby and it’s not as expensive as the one we picked up a year ago. lol

A little over a year ago we went in and got our concealed carry permits and then the gun purchasing started. Oh man, that can get expensive when you really don’t know what you want. So there have been buying and selling of a few until we got to the one’s we are very happy with right now.  But that’s just the start of the spending as we usually make a date to go to the range once a week and ammo ain’t cheap!  It’s really darn cold right now so we’re down to barely going.

He’s been buying up a lot of extras and not being happy with some of them. He’s a researching and knows a ton of information on everything before he makes a purchase. So figured out how to start making his own holsters. Mostly out of plastic but he has added leather to some. They look great. In fact he just finished this bright pink one for me. I got to order it custom and double-check the design before he cut it out, of course. Then had it custom fit to my hip.

For weeks now he’s been out in his little shop working on different holster designs. I have two plus a double mag holder and I have no idea how many he has now. I can’t keep up with all of them. lol  I’ve made fun of him when he comes in the house and told him to go back out to his cold dungeon. But it did get to the point it was weird because of how much he was out there. I’d finally get a little lonely and go sit in the cold with him.  I can only do that for so long before my fingers feel like they will break off. Plus I get bored as he’s not a great conversationalist when he’s concentrating.

Which has left me with more time to work without feeling guilty for the laptop being open when he’s home. Cool beans!  Yeah for hobbies!

I know many years ago our doctor actually prescribed his getting a hobby. lol  I know it’s helped him with the downtime of the job.  With winter upon us it limits the other hobbies available right now. Sure we have a lot of little house projects that need to be done, but those aren’t fun for an ex-carpenter to do. He needed something fun and this is definitely fitting the bill.

He made me stop planning the company, website and promotion for the holster company because he worries if he started taking orders it would then become work and not fun. But you know I’ve already got it figured out in my head.  I’m just waiting to hear the word go ;)

Does your FF have a side job or hobby?

Posted in Everyday | Tagged | 6 Comments

Rekindled Pride Christmas Stocking Review

Posted on December 17, 2011 by HotWife

It’s always flattering to have a company find me on the internet and I love to chat with other business owners. I’m very excited to bring this review to you for multiple reasons. Let me tell you a little about the company first and you’ll see a couple of those reasons right away.

Rekindled Pride was started by two professional firefighters in Idaho. We all know that gear can only be used for so long before it becomes unsafe. Instead of it ending up in a landfill or wherever disposal happens, they have chosen to give it a new life and new purpose. Recycling the life of each set of bunker gear into products that will get much love. Ok, that’s cool number one. I consider where they are in Idaho to be local since it’s only a 6 hour drive down I-90 to get to them. I love local companies! That’s cool number two.

christmas stockingThey sent me a few products to review, but Christmas being right around the corner I’m going to rave at you about this Christmas stocking

It’s all cleaned up and fresh smelling, sorry no smoke smell left over ladies.  But what it does have is the character leftover from it’s previous duties. Each stocking will be 100% unique depending on the gear it was made with. You can’t see it on mine because my picture taking abilities are second to none (insert sarcasm), but there are subtle stains throughout the stocking and some wear marks in the fabric.  It’s obvious that it’s real bunker gear and not just fabric pieced together.

I love that it has much  more character and story behind it than just another cute firefighter Christmas stocking. While we don’t know any of the work done in the gear, it’s still a pretty cool tribute in itself. Makes me think of all sorts of ideas for hubbies bunker gear when it’s time to trash it. ;)  Of course, I’d have to find someone to sew for me but now we’re getting technical lol

Even the back looks great.  If you were one of those people that prefers to match decor then you could fit this easily in with a country Christmas theme of blue and silver by flipping it around.

So how do you know this is actually passing the “got to have it” mark? Both my teens thought it was cool and Dad will love it.  Now that is a serious recommendation beyond the fact that I love it.  There’s still some time but it’s going quickly. Go run and place your order now and surprise your husband with the coolest stocking ever.

But if you wait a little bit I still recommend grabbing yours quickly. Put it away for next year and surprise him. You can plan to stuff the stocking with many things in the next 12 months. Mine was about 18″ long with an 8″ opening so you can fit many different stocking stuffers in it. That’s important for me as I love filling the stockings and I always end up buying too much stuff and can’t fit it in the stocking lol Yeah, we all have our things we’re good at.

I’m hiding this from hubby as he needed a new stocking. I’m tempted to get it embroidered on the cuff but I’ll wait and let him choose. I’m thinking gold thread would look pretty cool.

Now for a little bit of how the world got small this week with this transaction. When I replied to the email I included names of people I knew in her area and of course said where my hubby works. It’s just general practice as I figured they all take so many classes in Spokane they possibly ran into each other. NOPE, however her cousin works in my husbands dept. Not just works with, BUT is my hubbies LT. Sure you’re saying that’s quite ironic right?

When I tried to explain the connection to hubby he already knew I was talking about his LT. Umm, fail, major, major, major fail. I’ve obviously failed in training him if he’s not telling me of products he knows about.  However, I could possibly not have smacked him in the head with the fact he’s supposed to pass info like this on to me. So we’ll let him get a half pass.  I’ll now be hitting facebook pretty hard to make sure others don’t know of stuff I’m missing out on.

Well we ain’t stopping with just the work connection. She said she grew up in the area and named the development she grew up in, also giving LT’s wife’s maiden name. OIY, I then go into knowing she has to be related to a girl I grew up playing soccer with. I knew this girl had younger sisters. YEP, she’s the youngest. Thankfully I’ve been online for a few years so this doesn’t creep me out completely anymore, just makes me smile.

Yes, those are just two more cool things I loved about this review!  I’m looking forward to testing out the dog toy and collar. I’m going to save it for a couple of weeks as I want my little girl to go to her grooming appointment before she models the collar.  Also, I think I’ll be tacky and put them in the girls (dogs) stockings.  How cute would Christmas morning pictures be?  The Lab would love to prance around with a new toy and the Maltese is a fashionista so she’ll love the new collar.  Now that you have a mental picture, you know you’ll tune in to see them soon!

Thank you to Rekindled Pride for sending me the products to review.

Posted in Family, Shop | Tagged | 5 Comments