LAPD Wife

LAPD Wife Podcast

I had a fantastic time this weekend chatting with Ken from PoliceBackground.net and Gloria, an LAPD applicant, about my experiences and outlook as the wife of a seasoned LAPD officer. What's really fun is that our conversation is now available as a podcast you can listen to at your convenience.

Check it out at the link below. I hope you like it and just remember, this wasn't rehearsed or scripted, so if I sound goofy, be kind. I have to say that I really had fun talking about a subject I am passionate about and hope that I provided words of hope, motivation, inspiration or maybe just laughter for those who find themselves in similar situations.

PoliceBackground.net / LAPD Wife Podcast

 

Huh? Hand Sanitizer Misuse

Here's one I would have never thought of on my own. It's flu and cold season and I've stocked up on the hand sanitizers for my car, purse and to send with my kids to school. We do what we have to do to protect ourselves from the rampant germs this time of year brings. (Right now my son is home sick from school as I write this with a bad chest cold and heavy cough).

Hand sanitizers have gotten very sophisticated as they've grown in popularity. You can get everything from a 99-cent clear, unscented version at your local drugstore to a grapefruit and melon-scented, moisturizing beads included, glittery designer-type at Bath & Body Works at the mall. (A personal favorite store of mine).

But here's something I didn't think I needed to worry about. I read today that since hand sanitizers often contain a high volume of alcohol that there is now "hand sanitizer misuse" similar to the old Nyquil Smoothies of past years. Yes, somewhere out there, a misguided person is chugging hand sanitizer. Makes me gag to think about it, but with an often 60-percent alcohol content it becomes more seducative to those looking for an illicit high.

One more thing to warn your kids about. "Honey, rub it on your hands.... DON'T drink it!"

Understanding the hidden danger of stress in police work

There is a good post on the LAPPL Blog titled "Understanding the hidden danger of stress in police work" that's worth a read. We all know that stress isn't good - and that police suffer stress we don't even think about. There is a new study about the correlations between police work, stress and it's effects on health. Check it out.

Roll With It

Officer Jake is pretty good about packing his lunch for work. After 20 years on the job, his stomach can't handle quite as many In-N-Out burgers and he's learned the value of maintaining a healthier diet. I've been working with him over the past several years to develop tasty and nutritious ideas that leave boring old turkey sandwiches and carrot sticks a thing of the past. Here is one of his recent favorites, a chicken-salad rollup, that incorporates protein, veggies, fruit and whole grain all in one. Sound "too-healthy-to-be-tasty?" Not so! Once I got him to try this (it took a little convincing - he thought it looked a little too "girly") he loved it and requests it often.    

Chicken Salad Rollups

> Whole wheat lavash bread (I get mine at Trader Joe's. If you can't get lavash, go for whole grain tortillas or any sort of flat bread.)
> Fresh spinach leaves (or lettuce if you can't get spinach)
> Golden raisins
> Chicken Salad (my recipe follows. Or buy prepared chicken salad at your local deli. The only problem with ready-made is you can't control how much mayo or other fats they put in the salad.)

Homemade Chicken Salad

Four cups finely chopped cooked chicken (I like to use either grilled or roasted, more flavor)
2 Tbsp low-fat mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 stalks of celery - finely diced
salt and pepper to taste

Assembly

Lay out the lavash bread on a cutting board. Spread the chicken salad in a thin, even layer over the entire lavash, all the way to the sides. Sprinkle golden raisins over the chicken salad. Arrange spinach (or lettuce) leaves over top. Tightly roll up the lavash and fillings into a tight roll. Cut roll into sections about 2 inches wide. Store in an airtight container or wrapped tightly in plastic wrap. It's best to make this right before packing the lunch - store too long and it gets soggy or the rolls come unrolled and you've got a grumpy police officer trying to figure out what-in-the-heck you put in his lunchbox.

Remember - real men DO eat rollups.

Farmers Market Report

We love farmers markets. I try to go at least once a week from late spring until late Fall - luckily where we live there are farmers markets everywhere, every day of the week, so it's pretty easy to make it to one when you're in the mood. I grew up on a farm and miss that farm-fresh taste, so this is fun for me and a great way to get my kids interested in fresh fruits and vegetables, where they come from and that they can actually be (gasp!) good to eat.

This weekend we brought home: white peaches, doughnut peaches, strawberry tomatoes, Campari tomatoes on the vine, Blue Lake green beans, butter lettuce, green lettuce, Oxnard strawberries, golden beets, a 5-lb bag of oranges, tzatziki and hummus, sweet corn tamales (for Jake) and kettle corn (for the kids). I have GOT to get me one of those wheeled carts I see the serious farmers market customers pulling around. By the time we are done, my arms feel like they are going to fall off from all the bags of food I'm carrying around. But the kids love it and what's extra nice is that since I let them help me pick out and sample the veggies and fruits, they will often try things that they wouldn't otherwise. The latest example is the green beans. They have never liked them before when I put them on their plates at dinner, but since they were able to pick them out and bag them at the farmers market, they have discovered that they like them. This is worth the little extra I end up paying - seeing them eat fresh veggies and liking them is very satisfying.

I even eat healthier when we buy at the farmers market. For snacks this week I've been having small bowls of strawberry tomatoes - small, reddest of red, and very sweet - they totally hit the spot and satisfy both sweet and savory cravings. The Campari tomatoes on the vine have become our "salad" for meals. I layer them with fresh basil from my garden and fresh mozzarella cheese I pick up at Trader Joe's. I then drizzle them with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt to make one of the ultimate salads of summer - the Caprese salad.

Isn't summer awesome!?

Care and Feeding of Police Officers

The surveys are going well - I have 55 completed for Part One and 35 for Part Two. DON'T FORGET PART 2! - If you took survey one, but didn't realize there was a second one, please go back and help me out.

I've got ideas for a series of articles from the results I've seen already, but don't plan on tabulating official results until we have 100 completed surveys (both). So tell your GFs, get your husband to take it, and remember that this works for military, fire, police, dispatch, paramedics, etc.

Thanks! And keep the doughnuts to a minimum!

The Care and Feeding of a Police Officer

I've been pondering about the role of nutrition in a police officer's life. This is a tough one - these men and women have erratic work schedules, their activity level can be totally sedentary one day and running full out the next. They can try to pack a lunch but then never have time to eat it, or be stuck in fast food joints in between calls and often at the receiving end of plates of cookies and candy from people in the community looking to "thank" their local police force.

I would like to write a series of articles about this subject, but I need your help. Everybody loves a survey, right? Ok, well, learn to love it if you don't 'cause I'm starting one now. I've set up two short surveys via SurveyMonkey, a service I've used successfully in the past. Why 2? Because they only allow me 10 questions per survey and I had 20 I wanted to ask. So there you go.

I've put the links to the surveys in the top, left corner of this blog. They are totally anonymous - I don't ask any personal information and the site doesn't collect any personal information for you. Just click on the link and the survey will open right up and you can take it. Please, please help me out. And let you friends know too. I'm open to any first responders taking the quiz as well as their immediate family members. In fact, if you can get your husbands or wives who are on the job to take this also, that would be fantastic!

A few years ago I did a survey that dug deeply into the lives of police wives and it resulted in some pretty amazing articles and even got me a whole chapter in a book about blogging. I'm excited about the potential of this one and can't wait to see the results.

By the way, if anyone out there works in the field of diet and nutrition, I'd love some help. Drop me an email if you wouldn't mind me running some questions by you here and there. Thanks so much!

Going Green - Earth Day 2009

Yes, I'm normally all about the thin blue line on this blog. But for today, in honor of Earth Day, let's Go Green! I've been reading about and getting totally into living a more environmentally-conscious life by finding small ways to go green in my life. Every little bit counts, right? I've been doing this for a  few years now, and started making a list of everything I do for this post. And realized that all these little steps have really added up. So here's some of my ideas and things that my family has done to greenovate our lives (in no special order). And if you've been inspired to be green in your household, feel free to share here your tips and tricks, too.

• I joined a service called "PaperBackSwap." I am a huge reader, which means I have tons of old paperback novels that I probably won't read anymore. Instead of selling them for a nickel at the next garage sale, I post them on the PaperBackSwap site for trade. I can pick novels from other members, who will mail them directly to me. All for the cost of postage. This works for both hardcover and paperback, and all types of books - adult, kids, recipe, how-to, etc.
• I've subscribed to an eco-newsletter called "Smart 2 Be Green," that gives me regular emails filled with tips on making my life greener in totally various ways.
• I read the website "Green is Sexy" regulary, which is totally fun and also give advice and links for green living.
• I'm planning on taking my kids (Jake, too!) to see the new Disney movie "Earth," that opens today. For every ticket bought in the opening week, Disney has pledged to plant a tree. Hey, this movie not only looks freakin' awesome, you can feel good about going to see it.
• I used to be the queen of the Post-It notes. Ok, I still use them, but not as much since I started doing this: For all of my lists (and there are many) I reuse papers from school, homework, things I've printed in the office that have a blank back. I cut each 8x11 page into 4 squares and keep a stack of these on my desk, in the kitchen, by the phones, etc. Reduce, reuse and recycle is the mantra. This is a really easy way to do all three at once.
• I love to plant flowers, veggies, etc. Lately I've been buying the ones that come in biodegradable pots. I've had ones made of peat, rice paper, etc. It's kind of messy, some fell apart as I took them home, but there was no mess and no bunch of leftover plastic pots filling up my garbage can afterward. And they were only about 50 center more each.
• Since were talking about gardening, I try to garden more. I don't have a lot of ground to work with so I've taken to using pots to garden. I've got 5 tomato plants, basil, parsley, thyme, rosemary, mint and eggplant currently going. I also have 2 peach trees, one apple, 2 orange trees and 2 lemons. Eating your own product has many, many benefits, but one green one is that by not having them shipped in from other countries, or by shopping more at your local farmers' markets, you're reducing their carbon footprint.
• When shopping, I bring my own reusable grocery bags. Trader Joe's has them for 99 cents. You can't complain about them being too expensive these days at that price. And most all grocery stores carry them. Buy one a month and you'll be set within 6 months with all you need. If you don't want to buy these "fancy" kinds, go oldschool and reuse the paper or plastic ones you get for free.
• We go through water bottles like crazy. I've decided that we need to be greener by getting reusable ones, especially after reading this article, and this one, and this one.
• All those leftover baby diapers? Jake's ratty old tshirts? Old stained towels? Anything that's absorbant, soft and I'm able to cut into squares becomes rags now for me to use. And I now buy and use a lot less paper towels in the process.
• Magazines. Now this is a problem for me. I'm a total magazine slut. I looooove them. But felt a little guilty about how many trees I was killing with my habit. So I coordinated with my neighbors and girlfriends. We all pick a magazine or two each to subscribe to and trade them around. Less subscriptions, less money spent, less trees killed and we still all get our fix. And when we're done, we give them to our doctor or nurse friends to take into the hospitals so the patients don't have to read that old National Geographic from the '60s.

Renee Unplugged

Went for a walk today - we have a "loop" around our neighborhood that is about 3 miles total that I like to walk. Walking, for me, is both exercise and a way to relax, unwind and get rid of the stressed of daily life. I used to take an iPod with me - I've got the nano that I put in the jogging arm band when I go out. I love it, it's very convenient. And when I need to push myself to really exercise hard, music is a great motivation.

But today was about relaxing. Getting out of the house, away from Jake and the kids, and just being alone in my head, if that makes sense. I left behind the iPod. I spent the first few blocks reviewing all the errands of the day and the "to-do" lists in my head. And then I just stopped thinking and starting looking and listening. I focused on the flowers blooming, the gorgeous new colors, and how the sun made pretty little shadows and light streaks through the trees. I tuned into the birds and tuned out the occasional car.

The mountains are very green right now - a blessing that came after the rains we've had so much lately. I daydreamed of how I want to visit Ireland someday and just let my mind wander these relaxing paths it had taken.

I had unplugged myself. From the iPod, from everyday stress and literally from everything else. It was amazing. I felt better not only physically, but also emotionally. I'll still use the iPod for when I need to push myself, but I can't wait for the next pretty afternoon that I can step out and unplug myself again.

Step by Step

I got a new toy this weekend - a pedometer. We have been having way too much fun with this thing. Officer Jake, the kids and I usually take at least one or two family hikes each week together. It gets us outdoors, exercising and is a good excuse to just be with each other without all the distractions that are usually around.

We headed out for a walk on Friday after our son's baseball practice to a nice neighborhood we often walk in. There is a sort of loop we follow and the houses are lovely with big beautiful trees and gorgeous landscaping. I clicked on my pedometer and Jake sort of rolled his eyes. But by halfway through the walk, he was just as curious as me and having just as much fun. "How many miles have we gone?" "How many steps have we taken?'

We had to hit another hike today. There is a trail that goes into the mountains where we get away from all houses, traffic, noises of the city, etc. I thought I was going to have to fight Jake for the pedometer on this hike. I can tell I'm going to have to buy him one of his own. It is kind of cool and very inspiring to walk more and more.

I was reading up on pedometers and such. I read that sedentary people (ie: couch potatoes) walk a typical 1,000 to 3,000 steps per day. And that the goal of healthy people who want to be active should be to hit at least 10,000 steps per day. We hit 10,000 steps with our 3-mile hike today, but I don't know what my daily total is. I'll try that tomorrow. I messed up when I got in the car and somehow it didn't stop counting.

Anyone else use these things? I'm hooked!