On his own...

The day has finally come!  

My man is totally on his own. :)

Several of the things he is looking forward to:

• Controlling the temperature in his cruiser
• Listening to the radio station he wants (or doesn't want) to
• Being able to stop when he needs to in order to "relieve" himself (lol, that one made me laugh!)
• The ability to follow his own methods and systems!

His FTO's last day on Rev's crew was actually last week. It was bittersweet for Rev... he was glad that he was with his FTO until practically the end of his training.

I'm excited for him... and nervous too.  It was a comfort to me to know that he had his FTO backing him up. Now, I just have to trust that he knows what he is doing and that he will make the right choices on his own. I have to trust his training and trust him. 

I'm truly more excited than worried... this is what he has been waiting for!

Cruiser

So, Rev gets to pick up his cruiser today!

We drove by fleet last night - he just wanted to see if there was a plate with his number on it. Sure enough! 

It's older, a bit banged up, and Rev thinks he has driven it before.... to pull the speed trailer!  LOL

Still.... it's all his!

We are going to ride together to pick it up in a couple hours.  Hope the smell isn't too bad, these cruisers have a reputation for stinking!  :)

The best story yet!

So, I've heard so many stories from Rev already. But this one tops them all.

They get a call about a man who drove up a mountain that a nearby cell phone tower was one. This guy wrecks his car and takes off.

Rev gets on the scene, the firefighters explain that they found articles of clothing littering the path.

Rev and his FTO get to the top of the ridge and are looking.  Rev gets a hunch, walks towards a small ledge and looks down.

A man with shoulder length stringy hair is running down the hillside.... butt naked!

"Sir, I found him." He calls back to his FTO.

The man trips on a stone, goes flying head-over-heels through the air - arms and legs a-flailing - to the bottom of the hill.

Rev handcuffed him, found heroin needles in the guys discarded pants pockets, took him to jail, booked him, and sanitized his cuffs (which the perp was supposedly sitting on and scratching his naked bum with. yuck!).

Best story yet!

Moving....

So....

Rev and I have been talking and crunching numbers.

We are going to put our house up for sale.

It is more house than we can afford, and honestly more than we currently need.

This is the best way, but it sure isn't easy. We built this house with our own hands, it took us 2+ years of Rev and I both working - him full time 55 hours a week - and then working on the house in every spare minute. Only a handful of things were contracted out... the rest was blood, sweat, and tears!

However, we did not know when we built it that:

1. Rev would be out of a job for a year
2. We would both be changing careers (to follow our dreams)
3. We would end up owing more for it than what we thought when we started building

It is going to be ok.... It stinks that we are having to essentially start over, but we are young and will bounce back. We knew this wasn't our dream home and that we would eventually want to move to somewhere with some property.... so we are just believing this to be a stepping stone to that goal

We are going to look for a townhouse or apartment (hopefully get a LEO discount), and work on getting debt free. After that (we are estimating 2 years) we will begin saving for our next home which we will save to pay cash down for.  

We are 24 and 26.... we will bounce back :) 

Murder Mystery...

Went with Rev and our best friends to a Murder Mystery Dinner Drama tonight... what fun!  Of course, the guys were eating it up (Rev's best friend is a cop too). They kept going back and forth with each other about the clues and what they meant...

Rev's best friend solved the murder and got an award!

My poor baby was so disappointed! But hey.....

... he IS a rookie!!!   :)

Less Irritated...

Things have been SO much better since Rev's been on days!

I can see this playing out... I will love days. I will put up with nights. It won't be that bad...

I've noticed that he likes to be home a lot more during days. And it is so very very nice to be able to go to sleep with him by my side every night. (Now if only I can get on day schedule, it would be great! LOL)

~

We did our budget this past Wednesday. Yikes.

Yikes.  Yikes.  Yikes.  (1 is bad, 3 Yikes is really bad.)

It appears that, in order to make ends meet he is going to have to pick up some hours elsewhere as will I.
We got ourselves in a financial mess early in our marriage and are now paying the fiddler (or piper or whoever the fellow is... we are paying him!)

He makes enough to pay our mortgage and utilities.. and that is about it. I've been going through a rough time with the photography business... winters are always tough. It's picking up but I'm going to pick up a part-time job to help until we get out of this debt hole that we have ourselves in.

We don't live extravagant lifestyles, our mortgage is average, we own our vehicles.... but Rev was unemployed while he was going to the Academy and I'm still in the first 2 years of my business. It just all came on so quickly and now we owe just about everybody it seems!

We decided in January that we were going to follow Dave Ramsey's plan to a Debt Free life... so we are on the path and are excited about actually doing this - it is just real frustrating when you work so hard and it still doesn't seem to be enough. You know?

~~~
I was so shocked when I found out what our boys actually make. I mean, really. It's pathetic.
It makes me want to shake these sports players who play these games and hold out for another 5 million in their contract. Seriously?

Not to be melodramatic or sound like the whining wife here.... but this society is MESSED UP!

A police officer has to take a second job just to put food on the table.... while the baseball player whines and complains about not having enough to buy that second home in Martha's Vineyard and that 5th sports car he so badly wants. It's just sad. It makes me sad.
*sigh*
~~~

But you know what?? With God, all things are possible!!!

After we had the moment of truth (where we thought we were going to have to sell the house, live out of our cars, and eat mini wieners out of a can... melodramatic me again!), we talked it over, and now we know what we have to do for the next 4-5 years to get out of this hole. And we did it all without knocking each other out or raising our voices! We have a budget, we have a plan, and we can do it!

We then had one of my favorite parts so far of our 6 year marriage. We went down by the lake at his parent's house... away from everything. We sat and held each other, quietly talking, and then Rev began to pray for us.

He prayed that God would forgive us for being improper stewards of our money, that He would bless our efforts and give us strength and patience on this journey.

We want to be a blessing to Him and to His kingdom, and so we gave it all to Him right there by the lake. Holding each other and knowing that God is holding us in His arms too. We will do our part, and we are confident that God will do His. He has never let us down!!

Irritated...

Last night was one of those nights. Rev was off, and decided to go work out instead of staying home with me... on his night off. He was gone until almost 5 am!

Granted, he was with his best friend (who's wife is MY best friend) who is also a cop. They don't drink and aren't party-animals, so I know they were probably simply playing xbox and goofing off.

Still, I was wide awake at home. Thanks to Rev getting me on HIS sleeping schedule (argggh)!

I don't want to be one of those wives... so I feel guilty for even feeling like this.

I just want him to want to be here on his nights off. Can't he find something to do here? I don't have any problem finding more than enough work/busy stuff to keep me occupied. And it wasn't like I was sleeping... I was awake!

*sigh* Wish I had a manual right about now....