Spring!

As of late, this is my favorite picture of Mister Mans...

#latergram from yesterday morning.... Someone didn't want to get up just yet. #cantblamehim #mistermans #toddlerlife #workingmom

A photo posted by Cassie Leavitt (@itsmecassieb) on Mar 21, 2015 at 9:27am PDT

I mean who doesn't love a good butt up in the air shot! Somebody just wasn't feeling up to being up that morning.

Life just moves quickly, we just had St. Patrick's day and even the First day of Spring (thankfully). Easter will be here before you know it. All the while, we still have over a foot of snow on the ground. Seesh, I am so ready for the snow to melt away. The river opens up more and more everyday. One thing I am thankful for is the slow melt that is happening, so that we don't flood the water tables with all of this snow melt off.

This past weekend we headed up to Lebanon, Maine to the Belgian Meadow Farms for their Maine Maple Syrup weekend. I would have taken more pictures, but it was so gosh darn windy and cold, we didn't spend much time outside. It was a fun time and I would certainly go back, just a bummer that it was so cold and windy. It sounds like many of the maple syrup farms are struggling this year with production. The conditions haven't been ideal for the sap to flow.

Certainly have a busy April on tap. I will be attending two conferences for work. One in South Portland, Maine and then another right afterwards in North Conway, NH. I am looking forward to the latter one. It's put on by an organization that is near and dear to my heart, so getting to spend 3 days with friends and like-minded people in my job field is always a fun time. On top of that Mister Mans and hopefully Ben will be with me so we can make it a little bit of a family trip as well.

Hopefully I can be better about taking more pictures.

National Public Saftey Telecommunications Week

Today is the last day of National Public Safety Telecommunications week. I had originally wanted to post about this on Monday...

Marathon Monday.

But something caught me off guard, being that I work as an emergency dispatcher, I follow many feeds online for Police/Fire/EMS and when I saw a post come through about a bombing at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I thought, no way... that can't be true!

The last time I felt that way, was September 11th.

And just like then, this too would turn out to be no joke.

Thursday and Friday I was attending classes at the NH Fire Academy. As I was getting ready Friday morning, I had the news on to hear about the shootout and the officials placing Watertown, MA and surrounding communities on lock down. Driving up to the Fire Academy, there were signs on the highway, saying to avoid Boston area, check media.

All through the class, I kept my phone on and checked periodically at breaks for updates, hoping that they would find the suspect and this chapter would be over. But they wouldn't find the suspect until Friday evening, Ben and I were glued to the news broadcast. I was hoping that no other lives would be lost to this tragedy.

Well the subject has been apprehended, and I think Boston and most of New England breathed a sigh of relief. I had several friends in the lockdown area (as well as several who participated in the Boston Marathon) and I was so thankful that none of my friends were impacted (at least physically).

On top of all this, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas caught fire and exploded, decimating neighborhoods, and killing several people, mostly first responders.

A week were we are supposed to acknowledge dispatchers/call takers/telecommunicators for all the hard work they do, is marred by several tragedies.

I don't do this job for the recognition, I do this job, because I wanted to help people. This profession is not for all, it takes someone with the right mix.

I am thankful for the first responders who worked quickly to identify and apprehend the suspects. I can only imagine how stressful and tense those situations must have been. I mourn for the loss of the innocents, and the MIT police officer. May they rest in peace knowing that the first responders worked diligently to get the job done.

We are Boston Strong.

I would also like to take a moment to say thank you to my dispatcher friends for the jobs that you do. It's not easy work, you don't get paid nearly enough for the amount of stuff (crap) you have to deal with, but you do make a difference, and know that no matter what, you are the calm voice in the dark.

Not the rule

For anyone who is new to my blog, my job is a huge roadblock to my healthy living. In my first 2 years of employment, I gained 50 pounds. Still to this day, I am fighting to lose that 50 pounds (and then some; from before).


I am an emergency dispatcher for a local fire/rescue agency. Overtime is mandatory, and I know I shouldn't "complain" about having overtime, especially in this economy, I am more so trying to explain my situation. I work shift work, my hours vary. My typical week is 2 ten hour days, 2 fourteen hour nights and 4 days off. So I have an 8 day work week, so my "days" at work are constantly shifting. It took me about 6 months to get accustomed to my schedule. I don't mind it so much now. 


My job, is basically to sit at a desk and answer the phones and dispatch on the radio. Heck, I even have a phone in the bathroom with me. It's a high stress job, there have been many links to indicate that this type of work leads to an increased chance in diabetes type 2. That scares me...


Well over this past weekend, I was at work on a very long shift, and my eating choices were not all that great. I did a lot of snacking. When trying to stay awake when most of the world is asleep is hard, I used to snack a lot, I've gotten into some good habits of walking (pacing) back and forth in my little office, or drinking water. This weekend, was not one of those stellar times, I didn't track my food, and ate everything without any regard for if I was actually hungry. 


I ate this weekend with reckless abandon, and I needed a wake up call to remind myself of why I don't want to be the weight I am for the rest of my life, I want more. I don't want to be a statistic, I want to beat the statistics. 


Don't get me wrong, I love my job, my work is very rewarding and I am helping people who are having an emergency.


So yesterday, I tracked all my food, and I was WAY over on my calories, but I didn't care, I tracked it all. Because that is what I need to keep myself in line. If I see that I am going over in my calories, then I will be able to make smarter choices and pay more attention to how my body is feeling (hungry), and choose water to start off with. 


I want to be the exception, not the rule... 

Progress

This week has been so screwed up, not being able to weigh in on my usual day (Tuesday) due to have to work and then making plans to do it yesterday or later on today and ended up getting called into work early. Don't get me wrong, I love the overtime (and so do my bills!) but really, the job is what hinders my efforts.

I had also wanted to get a couch to 5k session in today, but that didn't happen. I just ran out of time... or just out of time, since I didn't get to run. (Bad attempt at a joke!)

Regardless, I did manage to weigh in this morning, granted I wasn't really prepared for it, but I went and did it. Since starting this journey I have never missed a weigh in week. I've missed meetings, but I ALWAYS weigh in. Anywho, I had no idea what to expect at the scale. I haven't really been present with my eating habits and my exercise has been screwy again due to work. Imagine my surprise when I was down .2 pounds. FINALLY, the scale is moving in the right direction! I still have a lot of ground to make up from my massive gains - but I think that even this little .2 loss is going to be the kick start that I needed to regain some focus.

This weekend is the NH Emergency Dispatcher Association Conference, in beautiful Laconia, right on the lake, this conference makes my job sound professional! LOL. I am really excited about learning new techniques and hot button topics, I am really looking forward to learning more about becoming a tactical dispatcher. Eventually sign up for the state TERT program and FEMA to assist in times of great need / disasters. I am hoping to at least get a walk in while attending the conference!

Any plans for the weekend?