I have been SO looking forward to tonight's citizen's police academy class...we learned about the K9 Unit. These dogs are amazing...Also in tonight's class Sara and I somehow are now Co-Leaders for the class...funny stuff...We also got our official shirts (with our names and a badge embroidered on them, I might add)...

I geared up to be attacked...This is kinda unlike me...I'm generally not very daring...but for some reason I was so pumped about doing this...

I was the first from my class to do the exercise. I had to get the decoy outfit on and that was quite hilarious how I had to "hop" into it...Apparently with all the laughter in the background, others thought this was funny too...I appreciated the officer's help, but if a guy is putting something on my feet, I'd prefer it not be plastic sacks...maybe a glass slipper...hmmm....





Here I am all geared up and practicing the stance the officers told me:

And here I'm getting specific directions and asking things like, "the dog isn't going to bite my nose of is he? Should I still have these plastic baggies on my feet? Should I take the pork chop out of my pocket? The dog does know the command for stop tearing off her arm, right?"

And I wait...but, be honest with me folks, does this outfit make my butt, legs and arms look big?

Here's what you've been waiting for...THE ATTACK! Yeah...glad the officer was there to hold me up...

After the dog clinched onto my fleshy tricep (aka my grandma-ish underarm flab) he made his way to my elbow...once he released I pulled my arm in and let him get the arm of the jacket...

Now since the attack is over I have to get out of the decoy suit to let the next person go...this was quite hi-larious also...but at least I had help...one officer holding my hands and the other taking off the pants...this taken out of context could be viewed as inappropriate...but I was ok with it...I did lose a shoe in the process...maybe I am Cinderella after all....hmm...

Here are three of us volunteers showing our bruises...honestly...there are bruises...but apparently by my grimacing look I'm the only one that thinks it kinda hurts...


Can't wait until next week!

Update: Here is my arm the next day...I told you I had a bruise...make that bruises...


Check out the other posts regarding my Citizen's Police Class to see other exciting happenings:
Who Dunnit???
CHiPs and almost a Dip
Getting Defensive?
Such a Tase
CSI: Mycity
Charlie's Angels Tryouts
FADD-Feather Against Drunk Driving
It's Official
Go Speed Racer...

I guess I will "count" this as my Thursday's Thought for this week...

I have never claimed have a green thumb...green eyes, yes,...thumb...no...in my flowerbed I planted geraniums only because they are easy...they still grew...as did the weeds...over the spring/summer I maybe pulled weeds a total of 5 times...yeah...should have done it more...I thought I had done enough pre-work to help with the weeds for this season...the area was sprayed, I even doused it with round up prior to planting and such...however, the weeds were ruthless. I let them win. I would pass by them every day as I left and entered the house but I chose to do other things (whether important or not) than to tend to the weeds.

I have done this in life as well...I "see" weeds in certain areas of my life, but don't bother to tend to them...have the "I'll get to it later" attitude or think "oh, it's not hurting anything for now" and wouldn't you know it...the "weeds" soon over take the area...for example, maybe not giving 100% at something because 80% effort will be ok and no one will notice...or participating/initiating gossip or talking about others...and such...

it takes much more time to completely rid an area of weeds as opposed to removing them as they pop up...so now my flowerbed needs a complete overhaul...when if I would have just kept up with it...just a little maintenance would do...parts of my behavior/attitude need an overhaul as well...

This one is on a Thursday, barely...





A lot of us have thought about what happened 7 years ago today. I know I thought about how I was on my way to teach my 4th graders and heard about the first plane on the radio. I made it into the office about the time the second plane hit. The next several days there was so much fear that seemed to take over almost everyone. We were getting bomb threats in the district and had to evacuate on a couple of occasions.





When I visitied D.C. in 2003 there was an exhibit that had items from that day. There was a voice mail from a victim that you could listen to articles of clothing and such. It was very moving.





I visited Ground Zero last August when I was in NYC. They were working on the memorial. I hadn't seen the Towers in person. To see the open area it was hard to invision how two massive buildings were there. It also put into perspective for me how close everything is there.



There is a Fire Station right across the street which now has a memorial alongside the building.




I encourage you to take the time to think and pray about all those affected by 9/11/01, those who lost their lives that day and the ones who have since...as well as their families.

Ok...so maybe I need to change Thursday's Thought to Tuesday's Thought or something...because this is the second week that I can't seem to make the time to post on Thursdays...

I did start a class last night...which will take up most of my Thursday evenings...I'll talk about my class as opposed to posing some deep theological question for you to ponder for days...

I am taking a citizens police academy class that my city's police department offers...I am sooooooooo looking forward to it...call me dorky if you choose...just don't write it in your comments...I do have feelings you know...We meet on Thursday nights for about 14 weeks or so and we get to do/see some of the following: ride with officers, check out the crime lab and do finger printing, tour the jail & 911 center, ride (and drive a teeny bit) on the training course, blow stuff up with the bomb squad and get to shoot some weapons! There's tons more too..Oh, I forgot the best part...we can be attacked by the K9 unit...I am so volunteering for that! We do get to take our cameras with us so hopefully I'll get some blog worthy pics of my adventures...

Ok...so, I so missed this week's Thursday's thought...I only remembered after the massive influx of emails of my faithful readers reminded me...yeah..ok..moving on...

Today's quote:

Yes, I do like the quote because it has feather in it...However, this definition is a good one...Have you ever hoped for something and it continued to flutter inside of you until it was a reality...surely so. I have. There are a lot of things that are currently perching and singing in my soul. Sometimes circumstances, people and even myself can mute the singing causing doubt, discouragement and disbelief. But remember, hope in your soul never stops even though we sometimes get caught up in life...we sometimes choose not to notice it as much if at all...Look at the end result of what you are hoping for and don't allow distractions. May the singing of the thing(s) perched in your soul never get quiet and continuously stir excitement in your life...thrusting you closer to your hopes becoming reality...

This week's post isn't as deep as last week...or is it???

So...as you know...we have a grandma and a grandpa they equal grandparents when you talk about them together.

mom and dad equal parents.

brothers and sisters equal siblings.

sons and daughters equal children.

oreos and milk equal delicious...wait...I'm getting off track...

So...why isnt there a combo term for nieces and nephews or aunts and uncles? So we could say something like I have 13 niephews or all my auntlces live out of state? I think adding the combo terms would probably save us like 25 minutes in our whole lives...any other suggestions or combo words we need to let Webster know about?

Ok...so we'll see how long I can keep this up...but I'm going to attempt to post a quote/thought every Thursday. So, my 3 loyal commentless readers...start commenting so Thursday's Thoughts can take the blogging world by storm!

"Half our mistakes in life arise from feeling where we ought to think, and thinking where we ought to feel."
-John Churton Collins

I've been stewing on the above quote for a few weeks now...what does it mean to you? What time(s) in your life has this been true for you?

For me lately, I have been definitely confusing them both...I can't seem to be rational and suppress the emotion when I need to be and vice versa...