back from colorful colorado

I came home to a pile of laundry almost reaching the ceiling in the laundry room, a splatter of food on the kitchen ceiling that HF swears he knows nothing about, and 2 large bruises on HF's back that he doesn't remember how he got. He needs me, he really needs me.

Occasionally while I was gone I would have tiny moments of pure panic. OMG! HF could be being shot to death right now! But as quickly as those thoughts came they would go away. I really don't worry, I just don't like being away from him too long. Other than the laundry and the food splatter on the ceiling, he worked a lot while we were gone. He dealt with traffic stops, domestics, and theft reports. FTO is going well. He is 3/4 done! He can't wait to be on his own. I have a CJ update for you all soon. I have to think about how I will put it into words. There have not been many CJ updates since she was hired on as a reserve. HF said that for now she is one of them despite the overwhelming opposition to her being hired. So for the most part everyone wants her to succeed and they are doing their best to give her a fair shot. HF is a nice guy. He still doesn't think she should be an officer, but he's a nice guy.

What I'm most interested in when I leave HF at home alone, is how he eats. He has a history of making himself sick with awful food combinations when left alone. One day while I was gone he called me and said that he made himself the most delicious dinner and that he considered it to be his finest culinary achievement yet. He named it "The King of the Road". His description: my signature bean dip spread over a spinach and herb tortilla with ground turkey and tri colored rotini, all wrapped up. How disgusting. But how do you tell a guy that is so proud of himself.

Some other things he's tried when I've been out of town:

• a package of oreos and a liter of lemonade (most of us have discovered at a young age that chocoalte and lemonade tastes vomit-like)
  
• beef jerky and ice cream. Together. Do those go together? Not since the last time I checked. I remember calling him and he was sitting on the toilet. He said he had to lean over and throw up in the bathtub a couple of times while seated. Gross, I know! But it serves him right. He still hasn't learned his lesson.
  
• lime sherbet with chocolate sauce

I'm sure there's more, but you get the idea.

Thanks for all the great comments left on HF's post below. I think he should write more often.

Guest Post from Hot Fuzz

My wife has been on vacation for almost a week now and asked me to post something as a guest writer.

I'm just over half way done with my field training. I'm learning tons, keeping my mouth shut and my head down. Throughout all this, one thing is becoming increasingly clear to me:

People don't understand cops. Us. Me.

The general public thinks they understand us but the more I interact with the public in my role as a police officer, the more I see that they really don't. I had an experience the other day where a man was locked out of his car. He had called us to come help him get back in and we were happy to help. When we arrived, he explained to us how he was visiting our city with his sons so they could attend a father and sons football camp together. He described how his sons had locked the keys in the trunk of the car. After my FTO and I verified ownership of the vehicle we began to get our tools out. Then just as we're approaching the car one of the man's sons comes up with the car keys and he's crying. He couldn't have been more than eight years old.

"What's wrong son?" asks the man.

"I had the keys in my pocket the whole time and I didn't realize it."

"Well, that's great! Why are you crying about it?" asks the man.

"Because I saw the cops and I was afraid they were going to get me in trouble for losing the keys," sobbed the boy.

I bent down and introduced myself to the boy. I told him that we were the good guys and that we were here to help. "We don't get people in trouble and we're not out to take little kids to jail. Our job is to serve you and your family and protect you from the bad guys," I said.

I guess it worked, he stopped crying and the boy's father thanked us for coming out. As we drove away I couldn't help but wonder why a little kid would be worried about me being the "bad guy." When I was a kid, the cops were my heroes. I mean, who didn't love T.J., Ponch, or Baker? I idolized the police and everything about them and all of my friends did too. That doesn't seem to be the case anymore.

People get us. They think we're too heavy handed or paranoid. They think we want to make life miserable for good people "just because [we] can." They judge how tough or competent we are based on what jurisdiction we're in or based on what they see on TV.

I'm starting to see the world in a completely different way. I'm learning just how naive I was before I became a police officer. Even that title seems a little foreign to me still, like I'm half in and half out of that world. My FTO tells me that it's natural for me to feel that way and that I won't start to really feel like a cop until I'm cut loose from FTO and out on my own.

I definitely feel like a rookie and everyone in my department makes sure to remind me every chance they get. And I expected that to be the case. But I've always been a really nice guy and I never expected to be so misunderstood by so many people. I guess that's what has surprised me the most.

One of the veteran officers on my department pulled me aside the first week and half jokingly said,

"[HF], it's us versus them. The sooner you figure that out, the safer you'll be."

In a way I'm starting to see what he meant. Many of the people I've interacted and dealt with have definitely had that mentality. Because of that I am starting to understand the bond that cops share with one another and I appreciate that bond more and more every day. I love my job. I love what I'm becoming and I love the sacrifice required. I know I'm changing and I feel good about that too. I'm just glad that I have a great family backing me up throughout all of this.

HF's first hole in his pants

HF and I have always joked about the various cop stunts as seen on tv. Everyday when he gets home from work I ask him if he jumped off a building top onto another, or if he got to hang from a helicopter and jump onto a speeding boat. I try to come up with new scenarios each day like, breaking through a glass window while rolling, then ending up on one knee ready to fire. Each day it's the same disappointing, "No." But the other day, he came home with a hole in the knees on his pants and his knees were scraped up. He did one of the classic "slides".

A few days ago there was a county wide, multi-agency, active gunman training. HF got to go during FTO because his FTO had to go. It was kind of a nice little loop hole that he was able to do this. Anyway, HF was being shot at with an assault rifle using sim rounds as he was running down a hallway. To keep from getting hit, he dropped down to his knees and slid sideways while he was shooting back at the shooter (neither of them hit each other). It was like something you would see on Die Hard or other fantasy cop movie with heavy metal music.

So here's his first uniform hole:

And here's one of his knees a few days after the fact:

Ouch! So I asked him if doing a super awesome cop move like that was worth it. He was really sore the next day.

This intro to TJ Hooker perfectly demonstrates many of the "awesome" moves I'm talking about.


And here's an extra nugget for you to enjoy. My favorite part is at the very end when Hooker says, "Resist arrest! RESIST ARREST! Please!"


So tell me cops, all in a day's work? Seriously, how many of you have done something like this?

father's day coupons

I printed blank coupons on to cardstock using this template found here. You can have words and clipart pre-printed on them, but we opted for blank.

This is all you need: cardstock to make coupons, markers, scissors, stapler, glue stick, and magazines for cutouts.

Here are Daisy's coupons. She told me exactly what to write. I love her ideas. We included expiration dates to make it more exciting. The coupons are for:

• A daddy/daughter date (she hopes it will be a day of swimming)
• All you can get hugs and kisses
• a movie at the $1 theatre
• A day at the park that includes a picnic and water balloons.
  

I also made HF some coupons. They will not be pictured here.

Here's some more father's day activities and crafts from one of my favorite family crafty sites. How do ya'll celebrate father's day?

father's day

This year for father's day, HF will be working and I will be traveling. I'm preparing meals for him each day so all he has to do is pull it out of the fridge. Otherwise, he'll eat out at Arby's or make Delgado Slims everyday and we can't have that.

On Sunday, he'll get these bottle cap magnets pictured below and also found here and here that I ordered on Etsy. He's been saying he wants magnets for his locker at work and I think these will do the job. I think he'll like the superhero ones more, but I couldn't resist the vintage cop and robber ones. She still has an adorable set of "Men in Blue" available. I went to etsy and did a search for "police" and there was actually quite a few police related items. I loved this Father's Day card.

I think I will also pick him up a few of his favorite treats: One of his favorite beverages in a giant case from COSTCO and Smartfood white cheddar popcorn. Then of course, I'll have to say something cutesie with it like, "Pop Pop, Fizz Fizz, what a great Dad you iz!"I'm also thinking I might stop by at See's Candies and get him a little box of dark chocolate truffles. Blech. But he loves them. The fruit filled dark chocolates.

While I'm thinking about gifts, I saw this pottery barn police toy on Desiree's blog, and looked online at pottery barn kids and saw that it was still there on clearance. I love that it is solid wood. I'm thinking that might be a good Christmas present to keep tucked away for little Luke this year. Our local dollar store right now has tons of police related toys. They aren't the best quality, but they were fun during our exciting academy graduation time. The kids are still playing with the police figures. They are just like the little green army men, but blue policemen instead.

I thought that this personalized policeman bobblehead was kind of funny. If only it wasn't $100!

name that cop part III

Name That Cop part I
Name That Cop part II (answers to part II are at the end of this post)

Do you know: a) the name(s) of the actors, b) the name of their characters, c) the name of the show they were on, d) the name and significance of the black and white photo






Name That Cop part II:

1. Actor Don Knotts playing Deputy Barney P. Fife in television's The Andy Griffith show.
2. Don Johnson and Phillip Michael Thomas play two police detectives undercover in Miami Vice. Their characters names are Det. James "Sonny" Crockett, and Ricardo "Rico" Tubbs.
3. West Side Story. William Bramley played Officer Krupke and Simon Oakland played Lieutenant Schrank.
4. Arnold Schwartzenager in Kindergarten Cop. Detective John Kimble is his character's name.
5. Wyatt Earp
   

support

I think the hardest thing about HF being a cop and the schedule he has maintained for the last few years has been the lack of family support. Not that they aren't supportive, they just live far, far away. At times the distance has been very, very good, but I'm mostly speaking of his family. My family is a fun, loving bunch. We are laid back, we mind our own busniess, are pretty quiet, but love to laugh and tease, and be together. There is ZERO drama in our family. There is no smothering. I love it.

Maybe it's because I'm the baby of the family, but I find myself *needing* them. Friends are great, but there are so many days that I wish I could just drive to my parents' house for a little visit, or drop my kids off with a sibling for an hour or two, but I don't have that luxury. It's been this way for almost the last decade. ZERO family. We've made some great friends along the way, but we live in more of a transient city. People come and go. Sometimes I just feel plain lonely! I envy the friends here that are surrounded by family. They get together for dinner, they celebrate all the special occasions, they are there for emergencies, etc. This past year while HF was in the academy, it was very lonely. Not really anyone else I could rely on. In a lot of ways it was great. I had to overcome a lot of my shyness, I grew stronger and more capable and less needy, but there were and are plenty of pull my hair out days.

Anyways, sometimes I just have to leave! Especially during the summer. This weekend I will be going on a mini road trip with the kids to see my big sister. We've made lots of plans and I am really looking forward to it. When we get back, my parents will be here for 4th of July weekend. Just these two events will be enough for me to make it to the end of August when I will be wanting to get one last trip in before school starts for Daisy. Maybe we'll go to the Oregon coast to visit my parents.

I would love to meet more police wives here. I've only met one. I'm thinking of starting some kind of club. But I think most of the people in the agency are from around here so they've got their families in place. . .

So I have a couple of questions I want to ask. Do you live near family? If so, do you like it, hate it, or it doesn't matter to you either way. What kind of support network do you have in place other than the police-related blogosphere?

31

Today is HF's 31st birthday. He got off work at 2:30 pm and is now at a matinee showing of Pixar's UP with the kids. I'm letting Daisy think it's her idea to take him. While they are out and the baby is sleeping, I've been working on this: New York cheesecake with lemon curd topping.
We have talked about not buying stuff this year unless we (a) need it, or (b) it is meaningful. Any extra money right now is being saved for a rainy day, our 10th anniversary getaway (sans kids), cop stuff, a house, etc. etc.

So for HF this year, we made a 7 foot Happy Birthday sign from some butcher paper I had on hand, made him a cheesecake, and I made him a card that has 31 things I love about him. The kids helped to decorate the poster and make the cake. They are seeing the movie with a Cinemark gift card we got for Christmas. HF bought a gun-related thing a few days ago, went shooting with friends on Monday, and next Saturday he is going to go play airsoft all day which he rarely does anymore. So I'd like to think of it as a month-long celebration. I also plan on shaving my legs, which is something I rarely do anymore!

Two of the things on my "31 things" list?

1. HF is thoughtful: He made me a playlist of my "favorite" music to work out to. Don't worry it won't start automatically.
   
   
   
   
   
2. HF is a good father: The other night when he was tucking the kids in bed, I walked past their room on my way downstairs and overheard him singing to them with his guitar. This was the song. I shake my head. Then I shake my head smiling. Them iz some lucky kidz. Who sings journey to their kids for a bedtime song?! Hopefully they won't have haunted dreams.
   

police wives unite

I've joined a new police wives group called Police Wives Unite. So far I think it's great. It's kind of like my space, and definitely easier to navigate than most of the other police wife forums I've joined or visited. You have your own page and then you can add other members as friends and join various groups. So far I've joined 2. One for stay at home moms and the other for recipes. Anyway, I thought I would put it out there in case any of you wives/girlfriends/fiances are interested. I am on there as Mrs. Fuzz. I think I'm the only one on there that is anonymous like my blog. Even though it's a forum that you have to sign up to use, I'm still not comfortable putting pictures of myself and my husband and where we live!

Meanwhile, HF stopped by with his FTO to pick something up and when Luke saw him, he said, "Hey! You're a policeman!" (I guess he's still figuring this out) HF said, "Hey! Yeah I am". Then Luke said, "Ha Ha". But he said it like Nelson on the Simpsons. We were cracking up.

ABCs of me

I am super busy for a couple of days, and I just happen to have major writer's block, so today you get the ABCs of me.

A- Age: 29. 30 is going to be the best birthday yet!! (I'm psyching myself up. I have a fear of aging and death. I always have)

B - Bed size: Queen. the box spring is an actual box. My grandpa nailed it together for the actual purpose of it fitting our bed frame. We think it's cool.

C - Chore you hate: Hmmm. Mopping, sweeping, ironing, the general cleaning up after everyone CONSTANTLY.

D - Dog's name: We had a basset hound named Flash that died when I was 16. She looked just like the basset on Dukes of Hazard. Miss her.

E - Essential start your day item: kitchen HAS to be clean so that I can enjoy breakfast first thing in the morning.

F - Favorite color: Orange

G - Gold or Silver or Platinum: I guess Silver. I don't wear jewelry hardly ever except for my wedding ring and bands. I love it because HF designed it and had it made. I didn't do the whole ring shopping thing. He surprised me. (It's White Gold)

H - Height: 5'3"

I - Instruments you play: piano and organ. Had a music scholarship. Dropped out of the program after a year. Hated it. Wasn't me. Now I play the organ for our church. I get a bad case of stage fright every Sunday morning. My mother-in-law gave me a banjo one year and I'm learning to play that. LOVE the banjo. HF is teaching me. He's the super musical one. He plays guitars, harmonica, anything he touches pretty much.

J - Job title: Wife, Mother, Police Wife, etc.

K - Kid(s): Daisy (6), Luke (3), Beau (7 months now!) Recognize their names from a certain tv show? (Dukes of Hazard incase you didn't know-and no those aren't their real names)

L - Living arrangements: 3 story townhouse in the city, can't wait until we move into our own home.

M - Mom's name: Marla

N - Nicknames: Brothers call me Chum. They always have. Sometimes Chum-a-lum.

O - Overnight hospital stay other than birth: No

P - Pet Peeve: I try and try and try to not let things bother me, but oh honey! Where to begin. I'll just say my most recent. People who give a recipe a negative review on Allrecipes.com when they state in the comments that they "made the following changes. . ." Don't rate a recipe, especially giving it a negative review, if you haven't tried the recipe exactly as it was intended! If it didn't turn out good, maybe it's because you didn't follow the instructions! I'm done.

Q - Quote from a movie: I don't know why, but we quote Nacho Libre a lot. "Anaconda squeeze!" or "Do you not realize I have had diarhea since Easters?" There's too many. See here.

R - Right handed or left handed: Right. HF is left-handed. But can do most with either hand. He's had a it of trouble getting left handed things for law enforcement.

S - Siblings: 4 brothers and 1 sister. My sister is the oldest. I am the youngest. She and I weren't close until we were adults. Too many brother between us I guess.

T - Time you wake up: Usually between 7 and 8. It's random. I think the kids are starting to get up with the sun. I need to get a blackout shade.

U- Underwear: A lady never discusses her underwear!

V - Vegetable you dislike: Beets or pickled beets! My family on both sides love their pickled beets! I can't stand them. No matter the coaxing I will not eat them. I've tried them and the answer is still no! Bunch of Dwight Schrutes. That's what they are.

W - Ways you run late: Having little kids and being OCD about everything being perfect before I can leave.

X - X-rays you've had: ankle, teeth

Y - Yummy food you make: I love to cook and bake. I'd say I make an amazing French apple pie, and I love making Indian food and naan to go with it.

Z - Zoo favorite: Sorry, I am actually anti zoo! I feel bad for the animals and want to set them free even though often they are rescued and given another chance at life, etc. I am also anti circus. I don't protest or anything, I just choose not to participate. I've been to a circus a couple of times and it's nothing like Dumbo.

name that cop part II

This is the second part in a series of posts I'll be doing once or twice a week called, Name That Cop. Part I can be found here. The answers to Part I are at the end of this post.

Do you know who these famous cops are? Do you know what their character's name is? The show they were on? How well do you know your stuff.






Answers to Part I:

1. (photo 1) TV show 21 Jumpstreet: Actors (from L. to R.) Dustin Nguyen (Officer Harry Truman loki), Holly Robinson Peete (Officer Judy Hoffs), Peter DeLuise (Officer Doug Penhall), Johnny Depp-one of my girlhood crushes (Officer Tom Hanson), and Steven Williams (Captain Adam Fuller). This show aired from 1987 to 1991. I loved it and I was only 7 in 1987. Older siblings exposed me to a lot of this stuff.
2. (photo 2) Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop (1984, 1987, 1994). His character is Axel Foley.
   
3. (photo 3) James Butler Hickok AKA Wild Bill Hickok. See here for more info.
4. (photo 4) Sherrif Nottingham from Disney's Robin Hood (1973). Pat Buttram does the voice.
5. (photo 5) The Police Officer (Victor Willis) from The Village People.
   

let's talk about guns

"Oh! It's so cute!!", Julia and I exclaimed at the same time. Our husbands rolled their eyes and shook their heads at the same time. "Guns aren't cute", Julia's husband said. "But this one is! It's adorable!" I protested. This was the conversation we had with some friends of ours during Easter. Julia has wanted a Walther P22 for some time and her husband surprised her with one for Easter. Not really my idea of celebrating Easter, but whatever.


I'm no gun enthusiast, but I grew up shooting with my dad and brothers. Once in a while I mull over what kind of weapon I would want for self-protection. HF thinks I should get this Glock 26 (when I'm ready of course). I think maybe I should start with OC. I really want to take RAD for adults or other defense classes. HF said he can teach me weapon retention. I also thought I'd mention that HF wants a Glock 27 for his off duty weapon.

HF also wants to get me one of these: A Kubaton



And sometimes I get swept away in my Lifetime Television for Women fantasies and picturre a gun like this one below. Small. Compact. Deadly. Beautifully engraved with a mother of pearl handle that would fit perfectly inside my white vinyl clutch. When threatened I would take it out and shakily aim it at my intruder and turn my head away, fighting tears, and sob, "NO! No. no. . ." Then the intruder would slowly walk towards me and say, "You don't have the guts!" and then remove the gun from my hands. I would fall to my knees crying. Then we would kiss passionately in the moonlight of my window while the rain streamed down the panes of glass and the thunder silenced the pains of my heart. . . KIDDING! I got a little swept away there. But isn't that what Lifetime Television for Women is for? Getting swept away? KIDDING again. No, seriously. Am I the only one that enjoys cheesy dramatic television? Especially from the 80s?

Police wives and others: Do you carry a self defense weapon? What is it? What are your feelings on the matter?

miscellaneous

• KD over at Life While Handcuffed to a Lawman asks what to do for an LEO wife whose husband was killed in the line of duty to show she's thinking about her. I'd like to know myself. If anyone has any ideas and/or experience with this, please comment over at her blog.

• More police/fire antics from the 3 year old. We were getting ready for bed and choosing pajamas. Me: Luke, do you want to wear these policeman pajamas? Luke: no, I want to wear fire truck pajamas. We think this is hilarious because he only shows preference to firemen when HF is home. He plays policeman when he's gone.

• Speaking of firemen/paramedics, The Happy Medic has a good list of dos and don'ts for when entertaining strippers and doing cocaine. I can't believe some of the calls you all respond to.
  

• warm fuzzy posts: Just the Bus Driver over at Slam Dunks, and Constable Confused posted a link to a wonderful story about a mother bird.

• I've told everyone I know that I'm doing Body for Life again. Now I have to do it so that I can look like this:Not really, but I have zero tricep strength and can hardly manage a pushup. What happened?!

• Other than being tuckered out by intense exercise, rowdy kids, and sleepless nights, I've caught the reading and movie bug (it comes in waves). Much of my time lately is being spent reading police books and watching police movies. We are having a blast immersing ourselves in cop-related stuff. Book and movie reviews to come.
  

• LAPD Wife is conducting a survey about the care and feeding of police officers. On the top left hand side of her blog is the survey in two parts. Here's the first post she did about this. She also did a second post update and mentioned that the survey isn't just for cops to take. Wives, girlfriends, fire, military, dispatch, paramedics, etc.
  

• Ashley tagged me to list 6 Unimportant Things That Make Me Happy:

1. office supplies
   
2. Bert's Bees Beeswax Lip Balm with Viatmin E & Peppermint
   
3. See's Candies
   
4. karaoke
   
5. bad acting
   
6. 80s music. All genres-from Debbie Gibson to Whitesnake

If you like tags or reading tags, Stephanie, another police wife, did one called the ABC's of Me. I laughed at her list of pet peeves. She doesn't like when people crack their knuckles, sniff or snort their noses, and she can't stand teeth. I also found out that we are the same height. I love getting to know the other police wives I've found through blogging.

name that cop

For HF's graduation I put together a game called "Guess that Cop". It's about 50 pictures of famous fictional or non-fictional cops. I thought I'd share a few photos and see how many of you know your stuff! Without googling, see how much you know. For example:

• Do you know the name of the show if it is from one?
  
• Do you know the names of the person or persons in the picture?
  
• If it is an actor, do you know the name of their character?
  
• What else do you know?