Busy, busy, tired and still busy

Ben is somehow still keeping up his pace of working 48 hr shifts with a day off in between. I don't know how he does it... So much has happened this week and a lot of it I unfortunately can't talk about ;( Ben had an interview at church. We aren't sure where this will lead. We will hopefully find out more in the next few weeks. Until then....we are on the edge of our seats and I have to be shhhhh quiet. I have been so incredibly tired this week at work. I guess I'm not sleeping as good as I used to.

Next week is thanksgiving. We will have Caitlin from Wednesday evening to Sunday when Shannon and Rusty come home from their cruise...lucky dogs! Speaking of dogs!! Pepper appears to be doing better. She is really getting tired of her lockdown in the kitchen. She will occasionally bark at me to tell me how unhappy she is. Her leg looks pretty good. She's been jumping around on it too much today so it is oozing again but this morning it was totally drained. She is on 21 days worth of a medication to get rid of any infection. She probably has a week worth left of it. Trying to keep our little beast calm is crazy hard! Mitzi is getting really big. I need to take updated pictures of them but I forget.

I've spent a great deal of time lately putting some scrapbook albums together. I want to get them caught up. I have taken a break from genealogy for a bit to work on this. My brain was starting to hurt working on genealogy. I will kick it in gear on that in a week or two. That's about all....just trying to figure out what to get everyone for christmas and looking forward to putting up our decorations....just have to make room in the living room for a tree....not so easy.

First House Fire!!!

Today was the first day that Ben got to fight a structure fire that happened on his own shift. The other fires that he's fought were on other shifts when he was called in. It took a year but it finally happened. It just so happened that their truck was the first on scene and Ben was the first to the nozzle. The first to the nozzle means you get the right to fight the fire. He and Chris (another guy he was hired on with) were the first to attack. Ben said that when they got on scene the house was already fully engulfed so they did an exterior attack first. The flames were coming out from under the garage, doors, roof. He was so excited to get his gear "dirty". The house wasn't far from ours. Ben thinks it might be arson. There wasn't any furniture in the house, no pictures, and there were gas cans in the trash cans. Draw your own conclusions... Anyway here is a photo of the house after they were done with it.

Christmas Wish Lists

Ok, so its just easier to post on here the things we'd like or need for those doing gifts this year. Here ya go for those interested.

Ben:
Accessories for his AR15 - I'm not sure what those are...he didn't specify yet.

Camping accessories such as:

• water purifier
• camping stove
• etc...He is supposed to go through a magazine and give me ideas. I will update soon.

Ben also mentioned to me today that he wants a peacoat for dressier occasions such as church. He saw some at Walmart that I guess he liked which made him think of it. He wears size Medium usually in shirts and coats.

Me:
Books from the Patricia Cornwell "Kay Scarpetta" Series. I want hardback books. I have the last three: Trace, Predator, and Book of the Dead. So any prior to that would be fabulous. Here is a list:

• Postmortem (1990) ISBN 0-684-19141-5
• Body of Evidence (1991) ISBN 0-684-19240-3
• All That Remains (1992) ISBN 0-684-19395-7
• Cruel and Unusual (1993) ISBN 0-684-19530-5
• The Body Farm (1994) ISBN 0-684-19597-6
• From Potter's Field (1995) ISBN 0-684-19598-4
• Cause of Death (1996) ISBN 0-399-14146-4
• Unnatural Exposure (1997) ISBN 0-399-14285-1
• Point of Origin (1998) ISBN 0-399-14394-7
• Black Notice (1999) ISBN 0-399-14508-7
• The Last Precinct (2000) ISBN 0-399-14625-3
• Blow Fly (2003) ISBN 0-399-15089-7

I am also interested in getting some new crocs for work. I want various colors. I would like to have light pink, black, navy blue, light blue, chocolate and white. Now do I need all these? No...I wear size medium or 8 1/2.

Also, any kind of clothing gift cards to Maurices, AE, Gap...etc.

I have given Ben this same list as well...so if you want to get any of this...you might want to coordinate with him as to not duplicate anything. ;) I hope this is helpful.

Ooops rewind

ok so I forgot in the last post to update on Pepper. Since this surgery it has been imperative to put Pepper on a diet. She is about 15 lbs overweight. Yikes!! How did she get that way?? umm yeah I know...lazy owners and bad manners for table scraps...No more sweet baby. Anyway she is on a special diet food from the vet and no more table scraps...most the time ;) Anyway...first visit after food diet she went from 87lbs to 83.5. Last week her weight is down again to 81lbs. I'm so proud of my baby. She is losing weight and looking great. I just wish we could keep her calm. Anyhoo she is 6 lbs closer to her goal of 15lbs lost! Well on her way!

Pump Operator/Driver

The city has opened up positions for the Pump Operator/Driver position. Ben wanted to be on the department a year before applying for this position. As of October, he has been with SFD for one year. The last few months he has been preparing for this position. He has been training with a couple of the drivers at his station. They are teaching him the ins and outs of the position. Ben thinks he has a pretty good chance at this position. We are hoping that he gets it. We should know in a week or so if he gets it. A lot of the guys on the department do not like how quickly Ben has moved up the department but it is only due to the fact that Ben is such a dedicated and determined employee. He seeks out education and wants to better himself. Other people on this department get stuck in a rut and like doing only the bare minimum. Hopefully this will be a good stepping stone for him.

Job Update

Yesterday I was stopped in the hallway by my boss. He informed me that things are progressing with our other lab in Murfreesboro. He was making sure I still wanted to work out there. I told him that I did. We got to talking about things and it sounds like there are some hang ups with with the political aspect of things but otherwise it will happen. It is just a matter of time as to when it will happen. I reminded him that I still want to work days. He says that is in his plans. He said it will probably be more of a solo job during the days. I told him that this was not a problem as I was very familiar with day operations from working in Winchester. He said he had no doubt in my qualifications and that's why he and I were talking about it. He is going to keep me posted as to how things progress.

Pepper Update and Happy Birthday

We took Pepper back to the vet yesterday and he still says she looks good even though her leg has a puffy oozing knot on it. He says that it looks like in two days the water has gone down in her leg and she is loosing some of that water through the knot on her leg. He says she is walking good for only having had surgery 2 weeks ago and for being as hyper a dog as she is. He says the knot should slowly start to go away. It may be a sign that she will need ANOTHER surgery down the road to remove the plate in her leg securing the bone. She wont need to plate once the bone is healed. So we will see how she does in a few months as to whether or not the plate will need to be removed. Let's pray not because I don't want her to go through another surgery nor our pocketbook! Meanwhile she's still in confinement with the elizabethan collar on...she hates it, we hate it...the other dogs hate it...I can't wait till her leg stops oozing so she can get it off! She runs into walls, doors, my leg!

Today is Ben's birthday. He is 26! We haven't done anything to celebrate...once again he is working on his birthday. Ben is going on a campout next weekend with the scouts and he is looking forward to that. Next month he will be doing a wilderness survival campout with them. He is really looking forward to that. He's going to teach the kids how to rough it and live off the land. Should be fun.