Around here I call hubby Dr. Dad when someone needs fixed up. Have for years because it’s taken me a long time to be able to handle being around blood and stuff. It was just better to have him do it and honestly he stopped their tears faster than I. He’s always managed to be around when something a little bigger than I’d like to handle has happened. Well not tonight of course and it’s me too. DARN IT! lol

I took the kids to the water park and bought some new swim shorts to toss over my suit. I’ve put on a few here in the last weeks and just didn’t feel good about swimsuit wearing. I took the neighbor girl (daughters best friend since they were 2 & 3) with us as well and she had swim shorts as her suit.

Alas, this was a horrible idea and you need to heed my warning. Both of our inner thighs are rubbed completely raw, swollen, burning and seeping. By the time it got bad after we got home, of course hubby is out on a MASSIVE 5 alarm fire. ( I’m excited about that. No one was living in the massive complex yet and the pictures are amazing, yes wifey is a pyro too ) Anyway, I hurt so bad that yes I was going to suck up my ego and have him dress it. I didn’t care that the guys at the station would crack jokes, just make it better Daddy! So here’s the even worse, it feels so bad that I was tempted to call some of the other guys on shift and have them do it. lol I couldn’t find any neosporin for about 30 minutes and it definitely needs it.

But I fixed us up. It still hurts like hell, but it’s covered now and nothing is touching it. Tomorrow I’ll make him fix it up better. But why couldn’t he be at the station for that little bit of time I needed some help? It would have taken a total of 20 minutes. It’s under 2 miles to the station he’s at tonight.

But on a happy note. I was hurting on the way home so I stopped and grabbed a six-pack. I’m off to blog in bed and the whole 6-pack is going to be sitting next to me so I don’t have to get up. lol

EDITED: scratch that, hubby didn’t get to go on the fire and it was ONLY a 4 alarm. lol I’ll try to get pics up from it. Not in our town, but it’s amazing and citizens got great pics.

I am not sure I can say it any better than FireMom said it today on her blog Stop, Drop and Blog.

If you are nervous because you are dating or planning on marrying a firefighter, then I highly suggest you read her blog post. It’s very well written and narrows our lives down as much as possible. No words minced, just lays it out there as it is. Some of us women can hack it and others are high maintenance and shouldn’t consider the fire life. It’s not easy feeling second, even though we truly KNOW we are not second. There are many times that it is the feeling.

I can’t honestly suggest anymore that anyone marries, no matter the profession. I’ve run into so few women that are ready to commit to the work that it takes to be married. But it really takes a strong woman to stay married to a firefighter and love the life as much as they do. Yes on that note I will toot my own horn. He’s been a firefighter for about 9 years now, so I think I’ve earned my right.

Oh plus it just helps that Firefighters work hard and play harder. Take the pun however you’d like

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Happy Father’s Day to all the Fire Dads out there. Hubby is home and we are ready to spoil him. As soon as he decides what he wants to do. Right now we are just watching tv and if that is what he wants to do then that’s cool. That’s how I spent Mother’s Day. lol

Well he just decided he wants to stay home. We just remembered we have lobster tails in the fridge we can eat for dinner. We may go play put-put golf, guess we’ll just have to see. He’s going jogging and to the gym and we’ll see after that how the day goes. Good grief, like pulling teeth to get him to choose what he wants to do and eat today.

I would just like to stress that I’m thankfull so much for my hubby.

I’m thankful that he works his OT shifts and loves his job so it’s no big deal to him. This in turn lets us do so many things.

I’m also thankful that he has started paying some of my bills. He did it without being asked. He just grabbed them. But it has taken a big burden off of me to have him pay these little bills each month. Since he is working more, that leaves me with more family responsibility.

I know he does understand a little bit about my plight, but he’s never had to be in my position. EVER! So I’m thankful for these little gestures that take the pressure off of my schedule so I can be with the kids when he can’t.

I’m also thankful that he doesn’t mind taking OT. That he gets along with any shift and OT shifts are no big deal. I understand if he wasn’t the man he was then he wouldn’t get along with everyone as easily as he does.

I love you hubby!

Is anything allowed to break during the time they are home? The answer is a huge NO!

My daughter even said so. She said that nothing ever happens when Dad is home. roflmao I told her such is the fire dept. life.

I have 3 teenage girls in my living room and my son and I are hiding out in our rooms. lol I walked out to close up some of the house and get a glass of wine and was pissed that the neighbors were burning garbage again. We know how the last time went right? OH crickey, it was the dumpster down the street burning, not the normal jerks burning their garbage. Well I closed up the house and turned around to see the house filling with smoke! AHHHHHHH WTF?

It’s not garbage burning, it’s plastic in my dishwasher. The top spinner thing keeps falling off and it finally fell all the way down to the heat element. Holy crap, it was just sitting there burning. Thankfully when I came out it literally had just fallen. Do you believe in things happening for a reason? I really do and this just solidifies it.

I called hubby to laugh about it as he’s on OT shift tonight and it was good to hear him laugh it off as well. Nothing will ever happen again when he is home. We know this and thankfully I look for it without trying. lol

Obviously I was so new that OT wasn’t the norm. Now we are working the OT into our schedule quiet nicely.

First off I’d like to say that my hubby is awesome and ALWAYS checks in to see what plans we have before taking OT. I’m thankful he understands that his planner doesn’t have any family schedule on it usually.

He got scheduled for a ton of vacation time for the Summer. This is the exact opposite of what we expected to get. Everyone told us not to expect time off in the Summer for the first 5+ years. lol Now here we are with almost the entire month of July off. WOW! Seriously? How am I expected to work when he has the month off?

So I’m gearing up to a lot of OT coming up. We have many things scheduled and I’m super excited about that, but he will also be open for many OT days in between on the 18 something days he has off at this time in a row.

The Creation of a firefighter

When the lord was creating fire fighters, he was into his sixth day of overtime when an angel appeared and said, “ you’re doing a lot of fiddling around on this one.”

And the lord said, “Have you read the specification of this person? Fire fighters have to be able to go for hours fighting fires or tending to a person that the usual every day person would never touch, while putting in the back of their mind the circumstances. They have to be able to move at a second’s notice and not think twice of what they are about to do, no matter what danger. They have to be in top physical condition at all times, running on half-eaten meals, and they must have six pairs of hands.”

The angel shook her head slowly and said, “six pairs of hands…no way.”

“It’s not the hands that are causing me problems,” said the lord, “it’s the three pairs of eyes a firefighter has to have.”

“That’s on the standard model?” said the angel.

The lord nodded. “One pair that sees through the fire and where they and their fellow fire-fighters should fight the fire next. Another pair here in the side of the head to see their fellow fire fighters and keep them safe. And another pair of eyes in the front so that they can look for the victims caught in the fire that need their help.”

“Lord” said the angel, touching his sleeve, “ rest and work on this tomorrow.”

“I can’t,” said the lord, “ I already have a model that can carry a 250 pound man down a flight of stairs and to safety from a burning building, and can feed a family on a civil service paycheck.”

The angel circled the model of the fire fighter very slowly, “can it think?”

“You bet,” said the lord. It can tell you the elements of a hundred fires; and can recite procedures in their sleep that are needed to care for a person until they reach the hospital. And all the while they have to keep their wits about themselves. This fire fighter also has phenomenal personal control. They can deal with a scene full of pain and hurt, coaxing a child’s mother into letting go of the child so that they can care for the child in need. And still they rarely get the recognition for a job well done from anybody, other than that from fellow fire fighters.”

Finally the angel bent over and ran her finger across the cheek of the fire fighter. “There’s a leak”, she pronounced. “Lord, it’s a tear.”

“What’s the tear for?” asked the angel.

“It’s a tear from bottled-up emotions for fallen comrades. A tear for commitment to that funny piece of cloth called the American flag. It’s a tear for all the pain and suffering they have encountered. And it’s a tear for their commitment to caring for and saving lives of their fellow man!”

“What a wonderful feature lord, you’re a genius” said the angel.

It’s fire service related so it goes on this blog. I’m a personal trainer and I have 1 fire and 3 cops I train. I could go into their long details, but they are swat, captains, yada-yada We don’t need to go there with the “name” dropping. ROFLMAO

I’ve worked out with one guy that I didn’t know at all before we started training. Then we’re talking and he’s a volunteer for the town next door, so of course I bring up a friend who WAS with them for many years and they are still really good friends. Yep, small world, of course. Well this mutual friend is the total REASON that hubby applied to be a volunteer. So needless to say, it’s a big mutual friend. Then we are all similar age. He is friends with the Chief in our small town as well. Someone that was instrumental in training hubby also.

So just to lay the ground work, I was also laying the gossip grapevine. lol I know how all of these boys talk. So when said client (total friend now) started bitching a lot and deemed me his Gym Dom I laughed it off and then freaked. OH SHIT, this could get around and this guy is going through a new divorce.

I immediately told hubby and nothing has come of it ever since except with the friend and I, but boy it’s lucky I have such a hubby that he understands. I know most guys would freak out for the sexual reference.

Yes, I’m bossy. Yes, I have been since birth. Just ask my family. lol Do I love hearing Gym Dom? YEP I do. Know what I love more? Hearing “YES, Gym Dom!” LOL

It’s just always been funny to me because I was waiting for the emails to start flying. I mean I already get told by each of them to ask so-and-so about this? Or bring up this? Total instigators. By the way, this isn’t even our department I’m referring to that I get the darn grapevine going through.

He was a volunteer for about 8 years before getting hired on. In those years he was working his ass off in construction. Minimum of 2 hours of commuting a day and rarely 40 hours a week of paid work before the crappy commutes. He’s competent so that made it easy to get and keep jobs with companies.

This means he was so tired. There were many nights he’d be crashed out in his recliner by 7:30. So hard cause we were dieing to talk to him and he us, but he was just beat. On top of all of these hours, he was also permanently on call with the fire department. That’s what being a volunteer means. You never go off call. Those that have jobs that they are on call certain days of the month and bitch, well you ain’t seen nothing.

Of course being Mom, I’m a light sleeper. Well he isn’t and put the over-tired with it and he would sleep through pagers a lot. I learned quick to wake him up with the call and possibly the address to go to. See why I need a scanner? I’m seriously used to knowing what is going on cause I sent him out to it. Anyway, he had to be woken up most nights or he would have never made the calls.

I worried when he got hired on that he wouldn’t wake up. Oh boy did I worry. But the fact that it’s his only job now has made all the difference. Others have slept through calls when first getting hired on. Our friends included and they never get to live it down. But he has always woken up and I’m impressed. I worried for nothing

This one is definitely for all the wife’s of volunteers past, present and future. Believe me, I understand this one well At home I wake up much easier than he does and I used to tell him the call and wake him up. lol

BACK HOME AGAIN

The pager makes it’s beeping noise, The scanner comes to life.
You see excitement on his face As he goes off to fight.

No matter what you’re doing Or whatever the current plan,
All you can say is “Later Hon” As he gets those keys in hand.

You say a little prayer That God will keep him safe,
That with all the pride and bravery No one will make a mistake.

You know those men are Brothers And fiercely will protect
The lives of each other and others– They will truly give their best!

You and your “man’s best friend” Are both loyal and true.
You keep each other company Waiting for him to return to you.

And when that front door opens With “Honey I’m home” again,
You thank the Lord he’s back OK, Your brave and strong Fireman.