Coming Full Circle

What an amazing thing to feel the joy of the baby moving inside of me after the heartbreak of two miscarriages. I can not wait to meet this little miracle.

A Different Side of the Storm

As some of you know, Kansas had a big ice storm come through last week. While I really don’t enjoy dealing with ice storms, I experienced this ice storm in a way I never have before…
The storm moved through last Monday night and left about 1 - 1-1/2” of ice on the ground. I worked Monday night and while at work I was told that I might get called in to work on Tuesday (my now normal day off) to help. I pretty much walked through the door Monday night and my phone rang to let me know that I needed to come to work Tuesday afternoon.

My husband and I woke up Tuesday morning to discover we lost our electricity at some point during the night. We weren’t too concerned because we have a fireplace downstairs. I went to work early to shower in the locker rooms at the station. I think that shift I ended up working became my initiation into dispatching. (Last week was my first week on my own.) I was busy for 8 hours nonstop taking phone calls from the public about downed power lines, no electricity, trees catching on fire, cars catching on fire, you name it I received it. The most frustrating part of the night was listening to people whine about not having electricity and wondering how they were going to function. By far the best call of the night was from a woman who wanted a police officer to stop by her house in the morning to wake her up for work. When I told her we didn’t have the resources to provide that service she started whining about what she was going to do. Then she asked me to send an officer by to take her out to buy candles. I provided her with the Red Cross number and told her that maybe someone there could help her out. I don’t believe any of those people ever gave one thought to the dispatchers or cops who were working to help them out, who didn’t have power, who were hungry because they didn’t have a way to heat anything up in their homes or who took showers at the station so they could have warm water. Even the police station was running on a generator.

We did manage to find food to eat. My husband drove around the town looking for anywhere that was open. He brought us three pizzas, which ended up feeding a lot of people. The local Holiday Inn graciously cooked food for the emergency workers. One of our cops brought back cartons of takeout food to us dispatchers who were stuck on the phone lines all night. It really was neat to see how the community pulled together to help people in need. There were people transporting the elderly to emergency shelters and calling us to make sure no one was left behind. There was even one guy who volunteered to tow people out of ditches all night long for free.

This storm really changed my view of the aftermath of bad weather. It really gave me an appreciation for the people who are willing to help out and who do their jobs without complaining. Now if only my power would stay on…

Make up my mind...

So, I spoke too soon about no more jumping around to different shifts. Last night I was told that they would prefer to move me to day shift because I’m new and there is a relatively new girl on swings. She has been there since May. Apparently every Sunday night we will be working together by ourselves and there are a couple of upcoming days where we would be working together just the two of us. So, instead of me working swings for the next three months, they want me to go to days permanently. The only problem with days, most of the cops are grouchy and rude. I was thinking I would get some time to find my niche while working with people who have more patience and understanding towards new people, but it’s not meant to be. I guess God is in control and knows what’s best for me. Maybe once they figure out I’m pregnant they’ll be kinder, but I doubt it!

The good thing about days... I'll get Christmas Eve and New Years Eve nights off. That's exciting!

No more midnights...

The last two weeks I have worked midnights. I can definitely say that midnights are not for me. At this point in my life, they leave me too tired to do anything. The people that work on the midnight shift are extremely nice and I really enjoy them, however I just don’t like working all night long. I actually feel that I get less time with my husband than if I work any other shift. It has definitely been a learning experience, one that I’m kind of glad to put behind me.

But the end of my night shift training means…

I am done with training. My last day was last night, and it is definitely safe to say I am glad to be done. No more having to read daily evaluations, and no more having someone hover over me telling me what to do. (Okay, that might not change for awhile.) The best thing of all is no more jumping around to different shifts with different days off. I will be on the same shift with the same days off for a while, so I will be able to actually plan things in the future. It’s kind of nice to know I might get a life again.

It wasn't meant to be...

Yesterday was my dentist appointment. The real one, not the one I concocted in my head. I was ready for it. I’m doing better with the morning sickness, so I wasn’t worried about throwing up on my hygienist. I was prepared to refuse any x-rays because I am pregnant. I was even ready to deal with the mean hygienist that I am usually stuck with and prepared to tell them I want a new one if she kept up the attitude. I arrived at 9:30 for my 9:40 appointment only to find out that they changed my appointment to 8:50 and never bothered to tell me. I was mildly annoyed especially when the receptionist offered me a 2pm appointment later that day. Don’t those people realize that I live 15 miles away and I’m not going to drive back and forth all day or hang out in town until my appointment? We’re going to try this again in December since apparently November isn’t my month. At least I’ll be in my second trimester by then.

Tonight I start working the midnight shift for two weeks. I am not looking forward to staying awake all night long! Last night I stayed up as late as I could. I only made it to 3am before I had to go to bed. I should’ve gone to bed on time, because I only ended up sleeping for six hours. Today I’ve pretty much cat napped all day and laid around in bed. Hopefully it won’t kill me tonight. I did put blankets over the bedroom windows in an attempt to make the room dark. I’m hoping that it will work for tomorrow and I’ll be able to sleep during the day.

Projects

I moved on to safer cravings after the queso explosion. I now have an insatiable appetite for Arby’s melts. My husband commented tonight that he hopes this passes soon, because he’s getting tired of Arby’s. I’d agree but I could really eat another one right now. Of course I should probably stop since my stomach is already getting round.

We spent our Thanksgiving weekend working on our bathroom floor. Currently we are living in my grandmother-in-law’s 50 year old farmhouse. The farmhouse has been in a sadly neglected state for quite awhile, so when we moved back in this summer we started doing some work to help make the place more livable. Downstairs in the living room we tore down paneling and put up new sheet rock. Add some new paint in other areas and the place looks so much better. After working most of the summer on the downstairs I was a little burnt out. This fall, though, I’ve had a new surge of ambition to start working on the upstairs. The gold glitter bathroom was top on my list, as was our dark bedroom. Before I quit at the carpet store, the manager gave me four boxes of a designer vinyl tile. We decided that our bathroom upstairs could really use a new floor and we had the right amount of tile and grout to get the job done. It’s amazing what new paint and tile can do for a room. In the next couple of days I plan on painting the countertop and banishing the gold glitter forever. I’m excited about the potential. I’ll be sure to post more photos when it’s finished.

Queso Explosion

I am having definite cravings. Recently, it has been tortilla chips and queso. I brought some with me to work today and warmed it up this afternoon. I set the Tupperware container on my desk at work with the lid resting on top of it and hooked myself back up to my headset since things got crazy on my brief trip to the microwave. In the middle of a 911 call my queso exploded. My only guess is that a bubble trapped in the middle was finally released. The lid went flying and queso came raining down on me and my desk. What a disaster! All I could do was clean up cheese while finishing the call and take a shower when I got home to wash the queso out of my hair.

Things Are Looking Up

The past fifteen months have been extremely difficult. My family has gone through many hard times, and finally things seem to be looking up. My mother is doing really well and has beaten her cancer. My brother is healing, and while he still has a long road ahead and some major decisions, he is remarkably upbeat and his faith in God has deepened. My husband should be graduating from college in May, a full semester earlier than expected. I have a job, which is trying at times, but it’s good, stable and provides the security that we were so desperately lacking earlier this year.

…But the most exciting news of all… after the heartbreak of two miscarriages I am expecting a baby in June. The baby is doing really well. I have already had two ultrasounds and the baby’s heart was visibly beating at six weeks. By eight weeks the baby was growing as scheduled and we were able to hear its heartbeat as well as see it again. This baby really is a gift from God.

Bursting My Bubble

I had my final cumulative exam on Thursday at work. The exam took me four hours to take and I am a fast test taker. I was glad to be done with it, though. My trainer finished grading it Thursday night and my score was a 98. I needed an 80 to pass. She said that she's never seen a better score on the final. I was pretty excited because of my grade and because I was done with the tests. Last night my trainer looked at my exam again and apparently she forgot to add in a missed question. My grade is actually a 96. Which is still high and completely respectable but just not the same as getting a 98. Does that mean I have to go back and tell people that I really didn't get a 98, I actually got a 96?

Cold

Yesterday I thought I had a dentist appointment. I started my car to warm it up and went back into the house to grab a few things. I decided that maybe I should grab my appointment card since they never did call to confirm the appointment. When I moved the magnet holding the card in place I discovered that the card said 26 Nov not 6 Nov. Good thing I figured that out before I left the house. I felt so dumb!
I am freezing. We currently live in a house with no central heat (or air for that matter). Some of the rooms have little wall heater units and downstairs we have a fireplace and a small propane heater. We’re not quite ready to start up the fireplace, but my husband was nice enough to get the propane heater started. Our bedroom is downright frigid. I think I’m going to have to pull out the flannel pajamas because a t-shirt and shorts aren’t cutting it anymore! I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning just because it’s so cold in the room. I have to pysch myself up just to get out of bed and throw some warmer clothes on. I’m not sure that I’m quite ready for winter yet!
We finally got Office 2007. Now I can spell check my blog and spell words like dilemma correctly. Thanks Cristen for being my substitute spell checker!

I Want Spell Check Back

We are in the midst of more home improvement projects. We did a bunch of things downstairs this summer and I took a break off from that before attacking the upstairs. I wish I hadn't waited so long, though, because it's pretty cold upstairs! This weekend I painted our bathroom. It was a lovely shade of pale yellow with gold glitter flecks in it and a glossy finish. Very beautiful! I wanted something completely different so I painted it a green. At first I thought it looked a little too dark in there, but I really like the color of green and it's really growing on me. Hopefully this month we can get some new tile down on the floor and I can get the countertop and trim painted. Then the bathroom will be complete. I'm really looking forward to that. It was pretty hideous looking when we started. I'll have to post some pictures when I finish.

We almost have our Microsoft Office dilema solved. I need to call our computer guy and see how much it would cost us if we bought it through him. I had my husband look through the university at any student discount prices that they might have. He looked last night and they sell it at a substantial discount. So if we can't get it cheaper with our computer guy we will buy it through the university. I'll be glad to have it. I use Word to type up my blogs and check for spelling mistakes. My husband was laughing about my reasoning for wanting Word again.

I have my last exam this week at work. It is a comprehensive exam covering everything we learned in class. I just mainly need to review everything. I'm not too concerned since I passed the other two exams with above a 94 on each of them. The downside is that apparently this exam is really long and tedious. I'll just be happy to have it behind me!

Well, I'm off to the dentist. Lucky me!!

A Little Bit of Everything

I sprained my finger yesterday at work. I really feel dumb about it because I don't have a clue as to how it happened and I did it in the last 10 minutes before I left. It's my left ring finger, so I spent the ride home trying to get my engagement ring off and after I got home I had to grease up my finger to pull my wedding band off. I'm glad I was able to take them off last night, because this morning I would be in some serious trouble. I told Ryan my finger looks like our cat, Piglet, skinny on the ends and fat in the middle. (Poor Piglet!) I was somewhat concerned about how this sprain will affect work tonight since I type on a keyboard all night long. I don't think it's going to be a problem. I'm not having any issues typing this blog, because I'm a two finger typer. I never took a typing course in school, so I don't use all ten fingers and place them on the home row. I use two fingers for the most part and every once in awhile I throw in some other fingers. The amazing thing is that I type about 49 wpm with my technique. The bad thing is that people make fun of me when they figure out how I actually type.

We got our computer back yesterday. It pretty much is empty. We spent part of yesterday loading our music, pictures, documents and printer back onto it. We still have more to go, but it's nice to not be working on something that freezes up all of the time. The only bad thing is that I just discovered we don't have Microsoft Office on this computer. I hate it when they forget that!

The other night at work a young college girl called the police because she believed someone was syphoning gas from her gas tank. We sent an officer out to speak with her to assess the situation. The officer called me back with the report. Upon questioning the girl, the officer determined that the girl had driven her car around town enough that day to use up half a tank of gas. The officer also told the girl she should probably take the car to a mechanic and make sure that the gas guage was working properly. I had to fight back the laughter while taking this information. And to think the future of our world rests in the hands of people like this.

For Anyone Who Has Been Through a Tough Time

Awhile ago my parents recommended that I listen to a sermon that really spoke to them. I took my time getting around to listening to it and after hearing it I kind of wish that I hadn't. It really is a truly amazing sermon about the Eternality of God. If you have ever experienced a really hard time in your life or if you're going through one now, I would recommend this sermon.

http://www.mcleanbible.org/pages/page.asp?page_id=3673#

It was on September 16 and it's entitled The Eternality of God.

I'm not dumb

I feel dumb at work. This is the first week that I am answering phones full time. I feel like I've forgotten the simplest things that I learned in training. I guess that's to be expected, though, since I learned so much in so little time. Maybe the problem is that you have to think fast about so many things. Hopefully I figure out the rhythm soon. Last night I was supposed to start answering the 911 lines. It was a pretty slow night and my only two calls were hang ups. I had more luck with the non-emergency lines. I feel a bit like a bartender or hairdresser, though, because people tend to tell you all about their problems while they have you on the phone.

We found out this week that my husband should be able to graduate in May. We thought it would be December 2008, but his advisor looked at what he had left and I guess some of the classes on his list are outdated. It's kind of exciting that he only has one semester left. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Of course, now we have to come to some sort of decision about what to do with our future and if we want to move.

Am I ready...?

I am finally at the end of my classroom training and about to begin my month long one-on-one phone training. It's so exciting to be at this point and yet so scary. I am glad to move on and finally be allowed to learn at my own pace. The classroom training has really gotten to me this week. I have been working extra hard and yet maybe not as hard as I needed to be to control my frustrations at my other fellow trainee. We had our second test on Wednesday night. It was originally scheduled for Tuesday night, but because we were a little behind it was pushed back. Tuesday night as we were leaving our trainer told us that we would review a bit the next night and then begin the test. By the time I came to work on Wednesday I was ready to sit down and take the exam. The other trainee was begging me not to tell our trainer that I was ready for the test. I think that was my turning point of being done with the classroom training and ready for the one-on-one training. All week I feel that I have been held back and not allowed to spread my wings.

Last night we started answering non-emergency calls. My first call was a woman wanting someone to check on a house that had 50 or so malnourished cats living at it. I called the animal warden and he yelled at me and said he didn’t believe it and wasn’t going to check on cats. It was an interesting way to start my 911 career. Thankfully the other calls were a little more routine. All I have to do now is figure out how to take calls, enter them into the computer like we were taught and do all of the other things that are asked of me. I think I’m ready but then next week will be a different story…

Success!

Amazingly I got the laptop hooked up. Well, it wasn't so amazing. All I had to do was plug in the internet cable and I had internet. I'm just happy not to be devoid of internet this weekend. I'm also happy to be on a computer that is actually working! It's the small things that count...

Computer Woes

We are having computer problems. I actually have to take our computer in and see if there is any hope for it. This means I might not be on-line for the next couple of days unless I figure out how to hook up the laptop to the internet. It should not be that difficult, but it is satellite internet and I am not sure if I have to add a new program or anything.

We have had our computer for about 6 years. We have been good about getting it updated every year or so. The thing actually has two hard drives on it, mainly because Ryan likes to use it as a gaming computer. I just want something I can use for internet, music, pictures and word documents when needed.

When I take it in today I am supposed to ask how much they want for a new computer. Since I do not know too much about computers, Ryan wrote a list of “requirements” for a new computer. At the top of his list- dual monitors. Is that really necessary?

Rodents

We are having rodent problems. Thankfully, they are not in the house. Unfortunately, they are outside in our vehicles. We currently have three vehicles. Our truck sits most of the time and maybe gets driven every week or two. I might expect something like that to happen, but I do not expect it in our cars that are driven daily. That just seems odd to me, though I do not call myself a rodent expert in any way. We discovered this problem not by actually seeing any living animals, but because there are acorns in our engines, and some chewed up wiring in the truck. Acorns!?! We have asked people for advice and done some research on the Internet. There is not much information out there to assist us with our problems. We have the silly responses of putting a cat in the car, then a dog to get rid of the cat, followed by a mountain lion to get rid of the dog. (And what gets rid of the mountain lion?) Right now, we are currently trying hairspray. Someone told us to spray our engine with hairspray because they hate the smell. It seems to be working, but only time will tell…

I'm trying to keep up with this...

All right, so I have not been very faithful in updating this blog. It is a little difficult to start this new project and a new job too. A new job that is making me study and do homework. Yikes! It has been a while since I have had to do homework. I am enjoying the new job, though; it can be a little boring in the training. Another two weeks of classroom and I should be trained one-on-one actually taking calls from people.

I missed my 10-year high school reunion this past weekend. On one hand, it is hard to believe that it has been 10 years and on the other, it is hard to believe that it has not been more. I missed the reunion because I wanted to and because I started a new job. It helps that my husband was not interested in going back and seeing the people we graduated with. I saw some pictures of the reunion this morning. Is it wrong to be secretly happy that some of the people who were mean to me growing up did not age well at all? Is that my vindication for them hurting me during my school years? I was the semi-nerdy girl whom no one wanted to date until I got contacts my sophomore year. I really do not miss anything at all about high school. I guess the one good thing that came of it, though, is that I met my husband in high school.

Frustrations are gone!

I was able to call our insurance company today and cancel our policy. It was incredibly exciting to do! The way that they have handled our claims is shocking. I am not sure how they even have any customers. The good news is that I can sign up for health insurance at my new job and there is no new employee waiting period. It is a much better policy and it will save us money every month. It is funny how excited I am by this.

The first day on the job was overwhelming. There is so much information to cover and I know it is only the tip of the iceberg. We were fingerprinted, given a whirlwind tour and bombarded with information. I should be memorizing local geography and ten-codes now since I will be tested over those next week. It is so much more fun to do this, though. Tonight I am going on a ride-along and then I will be bombarded with more information. At least I am not the only new person; there is another girl in the class with me. I just need to figure out the new shift/sleep schedule. I stayed up too late last night with my husband and he left early this morning waking me up before he departed. I am going to have to try to nap before I leave for work this afternoon or I will be yawning all night long!

Frustration and New Beginnings

I had to call my health insurance company this morning. They are refusing to cover my doctor visits until they receive the file from my previous doctor about my knee surgery. It does not matter what I go to the doctor for, or how unrelated the visits are, they won't cover anything. Right now, I am basically paying for insurance and any doctor visits out of my own pocket. I called to yell at them because I am frustrated by this situation. My husband thought if I yelled and asked to speak to the supervisor maybe they would waive our monthly premiums. I get too frustrated and am probably too nice to keep yelling at people for the amount of time needed to make that happen. So, what did I accomplish today? I raised my blood pressure; wound myself up and the insurance company did nothing. The next call I make to them will be to cancel our policy.

Today I start my new job. I am excited and nervous. I am going to be a 911 dispatcher at the police station; it is a career path I never dreamed I would take. Somehow, when I was in college for Interior Design, I never thought I would start a job like this. It is a good, stable job, which is something I desperately needed after my last disastrous job. I am ready for the challenge and the structure. I pray that I can do well at this job and make choices that will help people.

Well, I need to go rescue some hummingbirds. My cat is currently perched on the porch right above the feeder waiting for them to dine.

Summer

I haven't really kept up with my blog at all. It's kind of sad. I think sometimes I get a bit frustrated with my internet and the spaces website. They just don't seem to like each other too much. I'd like to keep up with it, though. I think that I need some place to let it all out.

It's hard to believe that it's half way through September. I feel like I missed the summer. It was kind of a bad summer, though, so maybe I'm not so sad to see it go.

This summer I...

- had a second miscarriage

- moved back out of town to my grandmother-in-law's empty farmhouse, then proceeded with several renovation projects to make the house liveable

- found out the current job at the construction company was no good and realized the owner was a compulsive liar

- had my brother go through surgery to have his colon cancer removed

- began looking for a new job by bombarding the town with my resume

- called my old job at the carpet store and asked for a temporary place to work while I searched for a job

- had the construction company fall apart around me. still waiting for that last paycheck... ha, ha, ha...

- found out my mom has breast cancer

- began working at the carpet store as a sales person again

- met some amazing people who now work at the carpet store

- got a job as a dispatcher for the police department (which I start tomorrow, YAY!)