Stitching again

I have starting stitching again, at least when I can. I am working on a Christmas present for a friend and on a stocking…of course. The stockings will never end! I have two to do this year, and have a feeling I will be doing two more next year. My sister’s was ruined in Katrina, and I have a feeling that I will be doing one for Chris as well. They seem to be getting along marvelously, so we shall see.

I have so many projects that I want to do and just don’t have the time! I’m lucky that I can get a few stitches in here and there and work, and I could probably do lots more if I could stay off of Facebook! Oh well, I’m sure the Facebook craze will pass…eventually!

I really miss my friends from stitching. I don’t get to see them nearly as much as I would like to anymore. I got to go to an impromptu stitching session at the store yesterday morning and had a really good time. Of course, then I had to work out and was late for work!

Nothing much else is going on. I am about to embark on a financial journey which should have all of my debt including my house, truck, everything, in 7 years and 10 months. If I work hard on the program, I can get it down to hopefully around 6 years, which is what I have left until retirement. How cool will that be?!? Retired, debt free, and all the stitching I can muster! Ummmm….counting the days!

Round 2 of P90X

I started round 2 of P90X on August 17th and will finish the Sunday before we leave for Fiji! Between the end of round 1 and starting round 2, my body fat went down another 2 points to 26%. Only two more percent to get to normal range! Bring on the pain of the X!

P90X Round 1 Results

I finished round 1 of P90X on July 13th and had some great results! I lost 19 pounds of fat, gained 5 pounds of muscle, lost 18 inches, and body fat went down from 35.8% to 27.9%, a loss of 22% of my body fat. It was difficult but I did it and I’m going to start another round in a few weeks.

Change in Priorities

My stitching has taken a back seat to my health and fitness right now. I have so many projects that I would like to work on, but my time is limited, and so for 90 days I am pretty much giving up most things but work and P90X. Let’s face it, there’s only so many hours in a day and I gotta sleep sometime! Most days the workout takes 1:15, yoga 1:45, and by the time you add in sleep, work, some time checking email/facebook, playing with the dog, and doing stuff around the house that has to be done, something had to take a back seat for awhile. It’s not my big stitching season anyway, summer is upon us and it’s time for the yard and diving and all that other outdoor stuff. I did get Ashlyn’s stocking back from the finisher and so the poor child will finally have a matching stocking by her third Christmas!

Speaking of diving, I will be going to the Keys on my regular summer trip and then an awesome trip in November to Fiji! I will check in here now and again, but I am really trying to focus on attaining my fitness goals and most of my free time is spent reading articles about eating clean, healthy living, even trying to learn how to cook some healthy stuff! I spend a lot of time on beachbody.com, milliondollarbody.com, and on Facebook. I will try to update here as much as I can for those that are following my life from here!

My 30-day results were pretty good. I lost 7 pounds of fat, gained 3 pounds of muscle, my fat went down 3%, and I lost a total of 8 inches. Today was day 32 and I haven’t missed a day so far. I am going to Georgia next week for five days and I’m bringing my stuff with me and doing my workouts there as well. I’m going to see my new great-nephew, who was born on April 18th. My nephew and his wife have had her family there for a month, now it’s our turn! I can’t wait to see him, he was a huge baby at 9 lbs 10 oz!

Until next time!

Nuttin’ much

Obviously I haven’t been on here in a while! I have recovered from the taser incident without any lasting effects. Since the pain is fading, I’m not so adamant about not doing again to keep my job, but that would be the only reason! I have been busy at work as the cadets in the academy are graduating soon. We did vehicle stops last Friday, I’m teaching defensive tactics this Friday, the following Thursday is Shoot Don’t Shoot, and that Friday is pepper spray training. They will be soooo glad to be done! I have been hanging out way too much on Facebook but I have been having lots of fun. I haven’t been stitching much since the retreat a few weeks ago, just too much going on at work and on my farm on Facebook! I’m looking to stitch some this weekend in-between work and extra duty. Hope everything finds you well and happy!

A Mind-boggling Experience!

You know that old saying, “Be careful what you ask for!”? How about the one that says you should never volunteer for anything? Well, I’ve never been much on old sayings but I just might start listening. The department is considering purchasing enough tasers so that everyone in Uniform Patrol will have one. So, all the sergeants had to get certified. Now, it’s not required for certification that the student actually be exposed to a taser deployment, but it is highly recommended. Some people say that they don’t make us get shot with our guns so that we know how it will affect us, but a gun is univerally known for its damage potential. When it comes to stuff like pepper spray and tasers, it’s easier to explain why you shot a perpetrator when he took your spray or your taser when you have been subjected to it and know for sure how it incapacitates you and renders you defenseless.

I was on the fence when I went to class. For pete’s sake, I’m 45 years old, been a cop for nearly 23 years, and just how much more do I have to subject myself to? But at then end of the classroom portion of the training, they list the pros and cons of be tased. There was only one con–it hurts. The pros were that it will help with your testimony should you have to use deadly force, it will keep you from abusing it since you will know how it feels, and it shows that you are a leader. The one that got me was the leader. I’m a shift supervisor, one of the most senior sergeants at my precinct, and an instructor in several areas. How can a leader expect his followers to do something they aren’t willing to do themselves? How can you instruct and promote a piece of equipment that you have never experienced first hand? So I decided to do it.

Now that decision did not come lightly. As I have aged, I have found that I don’t do as well with physical pain as I once did. It also takes a lot longer to recover. Most of my days are spent trying to avoid pain! But I couldn’t be a coward, I had to show that females can take it. I’ve been trying to prove that for 23 years and have done pretty good if I do say so myself. After all, it’s only five seconds. How bad could it be?

I watched one of the guys do it first. Now I’ve seen a lot of tasings on TV and a few in person and I’ve seen people overcome it. I’ve seen them run with the wires hanging from them, I’ve seen them break the wires, and I’ve seen them take hit after hit and still fight. The sergeant that went first is about 6′4″ and weighs about 300 pounds. His back arched, his body stiffened, and he did things with his mouth that I’ve only seen in the movie “The Exorcist”! But he didn’t catch on fire, none of his limbs fell off, and he didn’t utter a sound. When it was over, he stood up and appeared to be just fine and free of any lingering affects.

I decided to go next (before I chickened out). I hand-selected my spotters (guys on either side of you, holding you up under your armpits) and chose two guys I know well and trust. I took a deep breath and looked to them for comfort. My right leg wouldn’t stop shaking. I got cotton mouth and could not have spit if my life depended on it. I grinned for the camera, and waited for the warning…TASER TASER TASER!

I’ve never actually been hit by a train, and now that I have experienced what must be the closest thing to it, I never want to be! I wanted to run from the pain but I couldn’t move. The only body parts that seemed to be working were my right hand and my mouth. I immediately began screaming, “STOP, PLEASE STOP!” I tried to stop talking but I couldn’t. My right hand went immediately to my right-side spotter’s crotch, which was not good for either of us. I felt a tingling sensation all over my body, which one would expect from an electrical device that shoots two metal probes like fish hooks into your flesh and sends an electrical charge through every fiber of your being. But that wasn’t the bad part. The taser sends a pulse through your body 19 times per second. Do the math, that’s 95 pulses at 50,000 volts during a five second ride. Each one of those pulses feels like someone has a jackhammer that encompasses your whole body and hits you with it…19 times a second. It hurt so bad you could hear the pain.

When it was over, I felt like I had run a marathon. My back was bleeding from the top prong, but my butt was okay from the second one. It’s been four days now and I still have a bruise on my back the size of a tangerine. I couldn’t stop shaking for about ten minutes, and although the pain was gone, I realized that I had just done one of the dumbest things I’ve ever done in my life.

Can I provide a better testimony? Yes. Did it lend credence and credibility to my position as an instructor? Yes. Will it keep me from abusing the tool? Absolutely. But here’s the real question. If the department came to me and said I had to be tased again or I would lose my job, what would be my response?

…..”DO YOU WANT FRIES WITH THAT?!?!?!?!?!?”

done

New Week

The new book I’m reading is excellent. Ray Comfort is a firm believer and has a way of keeping you entertained while providing valid and valuable information. He’s pretty funny and the way he explains the ideas of evolution and the big bang theory makes it so simple to see that atheists are just wrong. He also makes me more appreciative of the evidence God has left for us to see how awesome His creation really is! I’m really enjoying the book.

I went to driving school today in our new driving simulator. It made me sick. We only spent about 5 minutes actually “driving” in the machine and man, I’ve been queasy ever since! They also had some nurses from Our Lady of the Lake hospital to do some wellness testing and they said my “health age” is 40.9 years old. That’s four years younger than I am.

I’m just a few stitching hours from finishing Ashlyn’s stocking and might even finish it today or tomorrow! Then I can start on the next one. I also got a couple of new patterns last week (like my stash wasn’t already ridiculous) and I’m excited about them, too.

I made it!

I made it through my eight days without taking a day off and all but one of the guys did, too. That’s a miracle! It was good that it wasn’t too busy so it made it a little better. So then, three weeks from now we get our six days off in a row. It’s worth it in the long run to work the eight for the six off later. I am really enjoying evening shift. I’ve been getting a lot more sleep and I have been very good about working out before going in.

I have done some stitching and I’m almost halfway through with Ashlyn’s stocking. I’ve finished reading “Take Up the Shield” and it was an excellent book. It compares the armor of God to a policeman’s uniform and it was very interesting how the comparisons shape up. It’s a must read for anyone in law enforcement or families of those that are. The author has 18 years of service as a Deputy in Los Angeles County and now how his own ministries (www.tenfourministries.com). Check it out if you get a chance.

Book Reviews

I’ve read two books so far this year, “The Shack” and “The Same Kind of Different as Me”. They were very different from each other and “The Shack” was different all together!

“The Shack” is about a man who has a terrible thing happen and he spends a weekend with the Trinity in a shack. It’s an interesting take on why bad things happen and God’s part in that. It was hard to follow in places, but I think it’s worth the time to read it. Just be careful that you remember it is FICTION. There are many places where the book directly opposes what the Bible says and the book is not a replacement for beliefs and the Bible. It’s just a book.

“Same Kind of Different as Me” is a true story about a black man from the south that grew up as a share cropper, a wealthy art dealer, and how they were brought together as friends. It’s a great story, a good book, and it reads quickly. It will touch your heart and I would recommend it.

Nothing much different going on around here. It’s my eight days in a row at work but I don’t think it will be too bad. One down, seven to go!

FBI Interview

I am going for my interview this morning for the FBI Academy. Each year, the FBI sends hundreds of local law enforcement through a modified academy at Quantico. It’s more for learning about educating and supervising and I have always wanted to go. It’s three months long in Washington and today is my day to interview. I probably will not be chosen this year, as one of the candidates has been the alternate twice already. But there are many departments that don’t have females that want to go and the FBI has a set number of females they want for each class. I may get to go in another department’s slot if they are short on females.

My uncle Riley died last week so I went to DeRidder for the weekend. It was a sad but happy time, as we know he is in Heaven. It was great to see my cousins who I had not seen in years. Work is going well, evening shift is good so far, and my workouts have been steady. The eating…well…let’s just say there is still lots of work to be done!