DPP Day 18...Or, The Day You Expect Petty Christmas Or The Rest Of The Caroling

Instead you get this.
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If you've been reading this month you remember the picture I took in Wichita. This is the picture I had in my head that day.
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It now lives on my dresser. Thank you Alan. This picture means a lot to me.
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I was on the wrong side of the lawn for my photographs...but if you look in this picture you can see the sidewalk...where the really bad blowup Christmas decorations were...so maybe it was best. I know that the December Photo Challenge is to take and post one picture every day. I did not take this picture but I did take a lot of pictures yesterday and today. I will sort through them tomorrow and post them.
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This will have to do until then.
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I think it's a picture up to the task.

DPP Day 17...Round Two

I'll just tease you with this one...I'm headed to bed.
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More tomorrow...including Petty Christmas.

DPP Day 17...Round One

I Love Christmas. I think I've made that very clear. But sometimes, even at Christmas, I struggle.I enjoy the shopping, the gatherings, the cooking, the cards, the erging, the picture taking. I really, really, really do.
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It's all the regular stuff that also has to be done that keeps tripping me up.
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I'll be in the Christmas groove...knocking things off my list like a pro. Christmas tunes playing. A Ho Ho Ho in my head.
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And then I'll remember...I need cat food. Or eggs. Or to color my hair. Or to do some laundry. Or mop, wash the car, put the dishes away, go to the bank or the chiropracter or pay that bill.
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So today I did four loads of laundry.
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PS check back in the morning for a Caroling post...if I'm not home too late I'll try to get it up.

DPP Day 16...Or, The One Picture I Took Today

Yep, just one. Not a couple for good measure. Or several of the other activities of the day.
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Just this one.
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My zany friend Beth was tending the fire and she crawled up on the hearth and she just looked so...Beth like.
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On the third Thursday of every month we gather at Beth's house. We call it Opinions Unlimited. Because we all have unlimited opinions.
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Have you met me?
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Tonight's topics ranged from undescended testicles and parenting advice to nature vs nurture and the reasons for buying good cheese.
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I was planning to take my camera and to try to get a nice close up of all these folks I've come to love so much.
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But I forgot it.
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But I had my point and shoot...which takes nice pictures and I took the one above. Then put it down as I became distracted by stories of step parenting, the only black family to live in the neighborhood I grew up in, how to cook a Erma Bombeck Thanksgiving, Beth's sister-in-law's hair on Jeopardy, personality tests, exiting the recliner competitions...and chocolate.
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There's always chocolate.
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So you just get the one very mediocre picture today.
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I promise to do better tomorrow. We've rented a bus and we're going caroling. With beer.

DPP Day..I'm So Tired I Forget

I think I may need to clear up a misconception regarding yesterday's post. While the girls and I may have loafed around the station all day...I was not actually in the station much after midnight. The girls, however, did pretty much what the pictures indicate.
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So today I went to Andrew's second grade class and helped them make gingerbread houses.
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Aren't they cool.
It was fun but exhausting.

G'night.

DPP Day 15...Baby It's Cold Outside

So we stayed in and did a whole lotta this.
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It was too cold to leave old dogs outside so Mags and Rescue came to work with me and River Girl had sleepover at Kimmy's.
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Someone said the other day "I want to come back in my next life as one of Jenn's dogs."
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Not a bad gig.

DPP Day 14...

Cold....

DPP Day 13....Bacon Fest '09!

I have some of the best friends! We get together several times a year for a gathering we call Foodies. Everyone can cook. We all love food. And we always have so much fun.
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Today was Bacon Fest. Everything had to contain bacon. We had all kinds of egg things with bacon. Things wrapped in bacon. There was bacon to stir the Bloody Marys. My favorite was bacon with a crunchy sweet glaze over it...almost like brittle...and the bread pudding...oh my, the bread pudding...
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We had a white elephant exchange. Those of you from my Petty clan may recognize the purple gorilla...he's been at my house for the last two years. He will not be making a return appearance at this year's Petty Christmas. But no worries...I have something really great to give!
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These pictures are really in no order...blogger is so cumbersome when loading pictures. I think I have a picture of everyone but Kelly and Micheal's daughter Emma and Sheri's husband.... Bacon, bacon and some things covered in bacon.
BACON!!!!! and olives for the Bloody Marys.

Donna and Kelly

Ed
Nedra...Stacy and Kelly's mom.

James and Lisa

Lisa

Will...he belongs to Stacy and Ed.

Sheri

Micheal

James and the purple gorilla.

Bloody Marys, Mimosas and...wait for it...BACON!

Stacy...our hostess with the mostest.

Lily...the other half of 'Will and Lily". Belongs to Ed and Stacy.

James again...camera hog.

Donna...or a Bloody Mary. Note the bacon stir stick. Kenton...Stacy and Kelly's Dad.

Donna and Zoe...Zoe belongs to James and Lisa.
Donna and Ed

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Thanks again Bruce...it's so fun to take pictures inside!!!

DPP Day 12...Breakfast

Kimmy came to Station 20 for breakfast this morning. She loves biscuits and gravy and I don't know of a better place to get some good biscuits and gravy than a fire station! We only make breakfast on the weekend and usually have something a little less...well...calorie intensive, shall we say.
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Something about fire station breakfasts...a post breakfast nap is a necessity.

James is either a little camera shy or he really thought I should take a picture of the OJ...and the nap...yeah, he was the first one down.

The best part about being the cook...someone else will do the dishes! Thanks Jann. PS...MUD, there was some setting somewhere that was causing a delay when I had the flash off and now I can use the manual setting which allows me more control of shutter speed, flash strength, etc...problem solved!!!

DPP Day 11...Lunch With Bruce...and Snick And the Wise Guys

Yesterday I had lunch with my sweet friend Bruce. Bruce and I have known each other since I was in college. I interned for him in his photo studio and then worked for him on an off for a while.
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I was having some trouble with my camera and Bruce is the smartest photo guy I know and sure enough...he helped me work out what was wrong.
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Doesn't this indoor photo look good! Maybe now I can take pictures at Christmas that don't make us look like we are opening presents in a cave!
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Thanks Bruce! You're the best! Tonight I had dinner with my dear friends Donna and Ed. Donna and I always celebrate when we are both half way through our Holiday Erg Challenge. (actually we celebrate for just about any reason) I'm at about 110K and Donna's at about 112k. Go us!
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Donna's a bit like me and loves to decorate her home for Christmas. Her 'daughter' Snick likes to hang out on the table by the window with the Wise Men.Many years ago I made stockings for most of my family. Donna, Ed and their boys Chris and Mike got stockings, too. It's a little hard to see but next to Snowchick Donna is a little stool...and on top of that stool is Snicky.
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It was fun tonight to look around her home and on her tree. Just as in my home there are so many things that connect us at Christmas...and always.

DPP Day 10...Good Morning!!

"House Fire for the following companies..."
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Normally these words are met with adrenalin and a measure of excitement. House fires are fun. Well...certainly not for those who homes are burning but firefighters like fighting fire. It's what we do.
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When it is 1 degree outside....not so much.
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"Pumpers 19 and 20, Quint 2, Quint 6, Car 64, Car 24...Pumper 20 as the RIC..."
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Double crap! The RIC team is the Rapid Intervention Crew. Means we stand in the yard in our FF outfits...doing a whole lot of nothing. On a morning like this you DO NOT want to be the RIC team.
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It is warm in the house...where the fire is.
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It is NOT warm in the yard.
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Lucky for us it was a false alarm. We got about half way there and dispatch flagged us.
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So...yeah. The time on the coffee maker. That would be AM.
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I've been getting up early to erg. Last week I was up at 5am everyday. So...4:48. I just made some coffee and started my day. Good Morning!

DPP Day 9...My Constant Companions

Thought it would be some four-legged furry critter, didn't ya!
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Nope...these days the red books are my pals. And there's another one that didn't make the photo today.
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Not very Christmasy...but at least they're red!

DPP Day 8

I wonder if we'll get enough snow to make a snowman?

DPP Day 7

My tree is finally decorated. It went up on Thanksgiving evening and has been with out ornaments...until today.
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Andrew always helps me with the tree and it has taken us a while to find a minute when we could get over here and get the tree done.
I picked him up from school and we had about 90 minutes. We really made the most of our time.
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We even had time to read 'Olive, The Other Reindeer'. Cute story. And I especially love the dirty little boy hands.I took one where he has a smile on his face but something about this pose...and the hole in the knee of his jeans is so Andrew.

December Photo Project Day 6

Okay. I'll admit that I'm cheating just a bit. Posting pictures from yesterday for today. But I'm just too tired to mess with anything else. If I get inspired maybe I'll do something creative here at the station this afternoon.
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I could have photographed the 11 bags of trash in my car this morning. Yeah...didn't really think you'd be interested. What concerns me is that I think there is another open (but corked) bottle of wine in my car...and I've not yet located it. Hmmmmm.
This is my Brother In Law Kenny, my sister Kim and my nephew Austin. We had a surprise birthday party for Kenny yesterday. While I don't think he was completely surprised (hard to keep everything a secret with a 7 year old in the mix) I think he was pretty happy.
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What I like the most about this photo is the smile on Kenny's face. It's a true smile.

I hope he felt how loved he is. There were so many people there. His family, our family, friends, coworkers. It was very, very fun....now, a nap.

Dec 5

Too tired for much...great party tonight. Happy birthday Kenny.
More pictures and the rest of the story tomorrow.

Day 4

Home 'nuff said.

Day 3 (Posted On Day 4) This Post Is For My Mother

My mother is a beautiful woman. And she always has been.
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When I was very, very little she was a beautiful college student. She attended Friends University in Wichita, KS in the early 60s and received her degree in education.
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Interesting that I'm writing this post as I am waiting to begin my certification exam to become an instructor...in Wichita, KS. I guess this apple hasn't fallen very far from the tree.
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Yesterday on my lunch break I went to the Friend's campus. Not far from Wichita Fire Department station #1. It was cold...and windy. And they has some crazy bad Christmas decorations on the front lawn. Imagine a blowup Purell bottle...the size of a car. Yeah, bad like that.
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But I had a picture in my mind. A picture of a very young woman. On a very important day. The day she graduated from college.
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You see...in the early 60s, not many women went to college. My mother was a pioneer. She was walking through some doors that were just opening for her. She wanted her life to have meaning and purpose.
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I wonder if she thought about me on that day? And her children yet to be born? Did she know she was empowering us to be the best we could be? To chase our dreams? To not let distractions derail us from our goals, our purpose?
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A picture was taken that day. This young, educated woman. This college graduate. Leaning up against a tree with the Friends University building in the background.
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It is my favorite picture of my mother.
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I don't know if this is that tree. But I know I have felt her strength this week. Her example set for me before I even knew I needed it.
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Thank you Mom. For always trying to be the best you you could be. So I can always try to be the best me I can be.
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PS...whew...I had no idea that was where this post was going. And I bawled all the way through it. Love you, Mom...now go get on that treadmill!

I have a GREAT picture for today....unfortunately you can't see it until tomorrow.
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Gosh I miss my WiFi!
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I also miss my critters, my bed, my fire guys, my goofy little nephew.
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And showering in my own bathroom, getting my clothes from my closet and not my suitcase and eating food from my own kitchen.
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Tomorrow I have a quiz over the last four units, a project to present and a national certification test to take.
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And then I'm going home!

What My Mornings Look Like

I brought my erg with me to Wichita...you know...the whole
Holiday Erg Challenge.
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It's worked out pretty well. Eric...as I've mentioned has been a great host. He leaves for work at 5am. So I'm up then, put the erg in front of his very nice TV, knock out my meters, eat, shower...off to class.
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Even better, he has an extra-extra bedroom so my erg has it's own room!
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Day 2 of the December Photo Project...done!