485 is a number I hate.
485 means less fun for summer.
485 is a scam.
485 makes city hall smile.
485 is a crime...in more than one way.
Misjudging a yellow...yes, by a millisecond...not crazily running a red, costs $485 in our town.
Do you have these evil traps in your city? Do you know how much a violation costs?
My city does not make me happy...(whew...almost let an expletive slip!)
I’m joining Rachel and Mr. Daddy today over at Once Upon a Miracle for True Story Tuesday…pop on over and read some awesome true stories.
This true story happened to me about five or so years ago…
Sleep eluded me. I was exhausted, but as tired as I was, I could not fall asleep. One o’clock passed, then two o’clock, then three a.m., nothing. Firehubby was at the station so I went ahead and turned on the light and began to read. At about three forty five, I could hear a car driving through the neighborhood, it sounded like it was a few street over. Being that I was upstairs, I enjoyed having the window open, I could hear the car very clearly. I heard honking of a horn in the distance and then some squealing tires. What the heck was going on, it was the middle of the night.
Within a few minutes, my doorbell began to ring. Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. Pound, pound, pound, pound. I nearly jumped out of my skin! Without hesitation, I picked up the phone and dialed 911 and then ran to the kids rooms. I scooped up Scout, ran to Princess’ room and then placed him on her bed. Her room was toward the front of the house and had a view of the street.
“911, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked.
“Someone is ringing my doorbell and pounding hard on my door!” I replied breathlessly.
“Can you see who it is?”
At this point the pounding began to sound much louder, like they were trying to break down my door.
Opening one slat of the mini blinds, I saw a full size, extended cab pickup out front and could make out at least four guys running around my front yard. I described what I could see to the operator.
Then suddenly, one of the guys looks up at me, he could see me through the single open blind, peering out, even though the lights in the room were off. He pointed up at me, then another guy looked up at me and threw something towards my upstairs vantage point and it hit the window. I don’t know how the window did not shatter, but I was not going to wait around for the next projectile.
Now, fighting hysteria, I gather my kids and ran with them to my room. The bashing at the front door continued as I closed and locked the door behind me and head to the master bathroom. Slamming the door, I quickly lock it. The operator continued on the line as I explained what was happening.
“Mam, we have officers on the way. Be calm,” the operator said, hearing my anxiety heightening.
Holding the children on each knee, I prayed out loud.
“Dear Lord, please help me, please help me,” I pleaded.
“Mam, you need to stay calm for your children,” she said with a scolding tone.
Oh my gosh, I was doing my best! Can you really blame me for getting anxious?
Within five minutes, the operator told me that the police were in front of my house.
Then a few minutes later she told me that they were at my door. I went downstairs and opened it up.
The police officer told me that there were reports of hoodlums terrorizing multiple houses in our subdivision. At one house they were shouting for a guy named David to come out. They had actually turned the power off at that house. The officer surmised that the guys who had been at my house had been looking for someone, but had gotten the wrong address.
The kids and I lay awake in my bed until sunrise, I tried to reassure them. Later in the morning, I called Firehubby. He was upset that I had not called him as it was happening. Could you imagine how he would have felt, getting a call from his wife that someone was trying to intrude into our home, when he was forty miles away? Horrible.
One of our neighbors came by the next day. He lives a few houses down. He told us that he had just come out of his house to workout in his garage, at about 03:45, when he heard the commotion. Not knowing what the guys were up to, he started down the street to check out what was going on. All four of the guys rushed into the truck and sped off, shouting “It’s none of your business.” This neighbor happens to be a probation officer and was likely armed. So, he had saved me.
Another neighbor woman had turned on her lights to try to scare them off.
The Lord clearly provided protection for me that early morning, in many ways. The fact that I was awake at that weird hour was a blessing. I can not imagine how I would have reacted if I had been awakened from a sound sleep. Then, of course, He provided people to come to my aid.
Additionally, when Firehubby came home the next morning he found evidence that the bad guys had been mule kicking my door. If you know how these houses are made, not the most solid construction, you can see that the Lord absolutely kept us safe by not allowing them to kick in my door. I am so very thankful.
Firehubby took this picture of our door:
Only by the grace of God was I able to rest in my home again when Firehubby was away at the fire station.
The first night when I was home alone, as I settled into be, I noticed something on my bedroom door… more of His grace.
It is a source of comfort to me every night when Firehubby is on duty and I am home alone. I keep a light on so I can see it (me, afraid of the dark?).
Can you see it?
The Cross.
The concert was AWESOME!
While I love Sugarland, I am even more crazy about...
For a reason that I have not heard Lady A opened up for...
What an amazing musician and PHENOMENAL concert! I can't say enough good things about him, what an incredible evening!
And ANA stayed away :)
Firehubby and I had a terrific date night.
Thanks Elaine at Matters of the Heart for taking my kids overnight!
What a terrific friend!!
My best friend Ana came again last night, yep, Anaphylaxis.
Get this, I took the kids to the local university pool and there were a group of young men swimming who were highly cologned up. Even after a couple hours of swimming, these guys STILL reeked of cologne.
Sure enough, I had gotten enough exposure to trigger a reaction. Thankfully, I was able to get the kids to a friend’s house before things got out of control and then called 911.
The good news, when I was in the ICU last month we came up with a very effective treatment. Racemic Epinepherine rocks! It only took about a 15 minute nebulizer treatment with the Racemic Epinepherine to reverse the swelling of my throat. That is the most effective treatment yet!
We are heading in the right direction with that. (Well, I also had Zyrtec/Claritin/Singulaire/Advair/Epipen/SQ epi/IV Benadryl/IV steroid onboard, but it absolutely was the Racemic Epi that did the trick.)
Well, other good news… I have an appointment at the Mayo Clinic in MN next month. After an entire year of this nonsense, I am more than ready for a second opinion.
They have some docs who specialize in anaphylaxis, plus they are a renowned institution. The appointment will take 3-5 days, with a hotel stay at night.
If you think of it, please pray for wisdom for my doctors. How wonderful it would be to return to good health!!!
Tomorrow night is my Valentine’s treat…yep Firehubby got me tickets to Keith Urban and Sugarland and it is tomorrow!
This is how I will look at the concert…since I have to wear a mask. I don’t want to end up in a hospital in downtown LA if Ana decides to come with us...
This is is another option...
But, I do have more fashion choices thanks to the swine flu...
Or, people may just think I am doing a tribute to Michael Jackson...
What look do you like best for my date night with Firehubby?
We are now officially in a drought out here in
The water company just sent out a notice that we are only allowed to water our lawns on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday! Now, it’s 100 degrees out, so it won’t be long until all of the lawns are brown. Without irrigation,
Firehubby did a wonderful thing a couple of years ago…he replaced the lawn in the backyard and put in a waterwise garden in our backyard. His hard work paid off. I adore it. It is my refuge. This year we will reap the benefits of it’s drought resistance!
Take a peak at the pix I took when we finished the yard…my battery is down and so I couldn’t upload the pix of it today with the plants are more mature…will do so soon
Found recent pictures...we need to refinish the teak...I prefer it the honey color like above.
I am NOT doing a Not Me Monday post on Tuesday. That would be lame.
It is NOT me who was without my colleague last night to run my bereaved parent support group :(
The group itself actually went really well. Great connections…great sharing.
However, in my hurry to get out of the creepy abandoned place while my participants were still in the parking lot, I did not leave the chairs in a circle and the lights still on.
Afraid of the dark? NOT me!
Then, as I exited into the dark parking lot…I did NOT find that everyone had driven off…holy moly…I did NOT say DARK parking lot. (no, I am NOT afraid of the dark)
So, I did NOT proceed to hurry towards my car only to suddenly find myself flying through the air and then towards the ground…CRASH! (Who put that concrete parking barrier there?)
I did NOT land on my knee and feel instant pain. All of the stuff I was holding was flung out of my hands and onto the asphault.
So much for moving quickly to my car!
Oh yeah, and who in their right mind would use a crystal bowl that they got for their wedding as an bowl for their support group refreshments…of course, NOT me! So, this lovely crystal bowl is NOT laying in the parking lot broken in a million pieces with me laying next to it in the DARK (don’t make fun of me…I am NOT afraid of the dark!)
Now, despite wanting to lay there and cry, I did NOT want to get the heck out of Dodge QUICKLY. So I gather my stuff (and my pride) and limp over to my car and throw everything in. I am NOT moaning at this point as I am trying to get out of this dark parking lot at 9:30 at night…ALONE! (oh, and I definitely am not hanging out in a creepy parking lot picking up glass! Sorry, REALLY, just not happening!)
Thankfully after the initial pain wore off, I only have a scraped knee ( I do NOT look like a 5 year old with my knee bandaid) and a bruised ego…and a broken crystal bowl that I did NOT use for my support group refreshments.
(Oh, and Leandra, you are NOT allowed to take any more days off from working with me & the group…look what happens when you leave me alone!)
So this LAME, NOT AFRAID of the DARK, support group facilitating, wife.mom.nurse is not posting this NOT ME MONDAY on Tuesday…I just wouldn’t do such a thing!
Some of you have asked where Firehubby was in the Fourth of July pix. 
