Curse things that bloom and make me sniffly

Ok...I've succumbed to some stupid blooming thing....and now I'm getting a dern sinus infection. It all started with not sleeping well...then sneezing...then clearing my throat a lot over the last two days...not being able to breathe when I lay down...and now the sore throat and coughing....yay... ok...time to go to dad-in-law for some meds...

Oh well...its worth it...I'm so looking forward to the fall weather we are getting!!

Hey if you guys want a good laugh then you need to check out my friend Ashlie's blog about her dog Bullet. She took him to the vet the other day and well...there is a hilarious story about her dog on her blog. Check it out. http://haddocks050308.blogspot.com/

Future Plans

Ben is really liking Rutherford County. We are hoping that he will start his ride-alongs this week. He will probably have to ride with another paramedic for 5-7 shifts depending on how quickly Ben can "pass off" that he knows how to do his job. After that, Ben and I have a 6 month plan! If Ben is able to pick up 2 (24hr) shifts a week we will be able to be almost totally out of debt in 6 months! How exciting is that??? I won't have him at home much, but he will be working the jobs that he loves and putting us in a better financial opportunity for me to come home whenever the Lord blesses us with children. We are so excited. Based off of how Ruth. Co. does their part time pay, if Ben works those 2 shifts a week, he will basically supplement my pay check. This means that once we have a child, I won't have to work. I would probably quit full time and go PRN so I could keep my skills up and continue to work a job that I do truly love. But I just really feel I would be doing a disservice to our family to keep working and making it a struggle to try to juggle Ben's crazy shifts, my crazy shifts and day care. It doesn't look like a day position is going to be a possiblity in the near future. I'm not sure when that would be a possibility. It just may not be in the cards for us, and I'm ok with that. Once we get rid of the majority of our debt, we won't have so many responsibilities that will require Ben to work so many hours. But the beauty of his schedule is that he would still be off every 3rd day and if I'm not working then I would be home when he's home and that shift wouldn't be so bad...if you don't mind him being gone 48 hrs straight...that will be tough.. We will see. Right now it is only temporary.

Our plan then is that within the next 4-6 months we want to redo the flooring downstairs. We've decided to tile our downstairs. We could refloor the entire downstairs for cheaper by doing this. We went to the liquidator store over in the antioch area just to look at prices for the fun of it and it we found some really nice looking tile for cheap. We are going to talk to some of the guys at the fire dept and try to get an idea of what it will cost us. That way we can start putting money aside and be able to have the cash ready to do the flooring in 4-6 months. I'm so excited. It will be great to have tile with the dogs. They won't scratch it, if they have any accident it will be easy to clean, etc...We'll just put some throw rugs down and whabam...Ben's aunt did this to her house and it looked great! We were frustrated with the wood flooring options because we are on a cement slab. If we hardwood the upstairs then the wood probably wouldn't match because it would be real hardwood versus what we put on a slab that has to be glued down. Anyway thats our plan; tile the downstairs and put real hardwood upstairs a little further down the road.

Ben had his yearly review at the FD. They are no longer giving everyone a cost of living raise. They are now requiring that the guys go above and beyond...no longer will the bare minimum be enough. The guys are required to do 2 hrs of training per day. They dept. now wants them to do more than that and take their own initiative to do it. The great thing is that Ben has been doing this all along. He doesn't like to sit idle so he has been reading the books for the pumper truck and learning what he needs to for the next possible promotion. Well due to the new requirements, most of the guys at the department didn't get their yearly raise. Ben was one of the FEW who did. Yay Ben! I'm just so proud of him for setting these goals and achieving them! Ever since he was little he's wanted to be a Firefighter/Paramedic...Way to go!

Rutherford Co. EMS

Ben started his orientation this week with Rutherford County EMS. I think he is going to really like it there. Monday he found out that he will get enough work through Rutherford County so he will be quitting Spring Hill. I'm grateful for this because he won't have to drive as far. They drove around the county today to see some of the stations and meet get their ID badges. Ben was sworn in today as an assistant Coroner. Rutherford County gives paramedics the right to pronounce time of death in the absence of the coroner or a doctor. He also got to meet with the special ops medical team for the county. Ben found out some more information on the S.W.A.T medics. He might be able to get his foot in the door and become one of the medics for the tactical team. Ben would LOVE that! So we'll see if they let him do it since he is only part time.

Other than that, we are looking forward to the beach vacation coming up. Hopefully the economy wont crash and there will be a beach and condo for us to visit. ;)

Head First!

Today was Ben's first day as an official Paramedic alone in an ambulance with just an EMT partner. The day started out really slow. I spoke with Ben after I got to work and found out that his slow day quickly took a turn. Ben worked his first Code today. He was very calm and I wasn't sure how it went. Unfortunately real life codes aren't like the tv shows. You can't just shock a patient and they come back to life. Unfortunately, the odds are usually against you. So much has to be taken into consideration...how long has the patient been down; has the family been doing CPR; Are they doing it effectively; what pre-existing health conditions do they have??? So when Ben told me he worked a code...I thought great...he just had his first loss as a paramedic. Unfortunately, it comes with the territory. I was so excited to find out that I was wrong and the situation was much better. So many things were working in this patient's favor. The family had already started CPR. They got their quick and Ben immediately took charge of the scene and started patient care. Breath support started, medications given, heart shocked...etc.. Ben was so excited to get a normal rhythm back...then he coded again. Ben figured out an underlying problem and once again got a normal heart rhythm. When they pulled into the hospital he was able to turn the patient over to the doctor and nurses with a stable rhythm, airway secured and medications started...that is an achievement for his FIRST code. I'm so incredibly proud of him! What a way to introduce yourself to a new hospital and doctors and nursing staff. So many facilities go off first impressions as to whether you are a lousy paramedic. I think this is a great way to make an impression. Way to go Ben!!!

Work work work

Ben has officially been hired on for Rural Metro of Spring Hill. He went and worked an orientation today. That facility is very slow most the time. Ben is only working there in case Ruth. Co. EMS isn't able to give him all the hours he wants. As usual, Rural Metro hasn't changed and there are some policies and lack of proper funding that Ben isn't happy about with their company, but overall, he said they don't seem to be a bad service. He has his orientation with Ruth. Co. in two weeks. Once that is over, he will officially be a Paramedic on a truck! Woo hoo.

We are looking forward to the trip to Florida. I can't wait for some vacation time. I hate to leave all our animals to the care of someone else...it seems like I'm not being a good owner or something, but I'm sure Brit and Jay will take good care of them. We just hope that Florida still has a beach and condo for us when we get there. ;)

I've been throwing myself lately into a lot of genealogy research. I don't know what's put the bug in me, but nonetheless, I am spending hours upon hours working on it. Ben can attest to that. I've link our lines on dad's side to some interesting people and information. Our lines are going all over Europe. Thus far on dad's father's side we are into England, Netherlands, Germany, Scotland, and Denmark. Cool huh? Needless to say there is a TON of temple work to be done. Mom is getting a lot together on her side of the family and I've found quite a bit on dad's side. Grandmother had a lot of it but I've found some that connected to our lines that she didn't have, therefore the work wasn't done. Grandmother had most of the work completed on the names she knew of. Well...time to quit ignoring my patients...back to work...boo!

Oh hey! Happy early birthdays to Brittany and Rusty!

Rutherford Co. EMS

Ben found out today that he will officially be working for Rutherford County. They appear to be able to give him just as much work as he wants. His orientation is in two weeks. I can't wait to have some extra cash to quickly knock out car payments and other various debts.

This week we joined the YMCA. Ben and I have put it off too long. Both of us as been unhappy with how we've look recently so we are making the effort for change! Shannon joined me Wednesday and Thursday night. It felt great to work out...but my poor legs are paying for it now. Ben thinks I hyper-extended a ligament in my knee. So...R&R for me...haha