Lest you think I've fallen off the planet, rest assured that I'm still here. Not so productive, but here. And, in case you think I'm a complete putz and never accomplish anything, I do have something of an excuse. In February, I was promoted from corrections officer to police officer. At the end of that month, I moved out of the jail and into dispatch to begin my training. At the beginning of April, I began my field training, which I'm still working on. I should be done by the end of May, and then I'll ride double with another officer until I go to the police academy in July. I'll graduate in October, and then my life will hopefully return to some semblance of normalcy.
Since being promoted, I've been pretty stressed out. Most of it is good stress, but when I come home, I just don't feel like doing anything. I went through about a 6 week period where I was lucky if I could get 6 hours of sleep per night. I've been so wound up and excited and nervous... I think now it's starting to pass, and I've been getting more sleep and feeling a little more normal. Just in time for me to start getting nervous about the academy. The part I'm most nervous about is the physical agility test, which is on June 26. I know I can pass, but if for some reason I don't, my career is over. No pressure there...!
Bue enough excuses... Here's what else we've been up to. Shayne decided to make the back part of the garage his workshop. Over the past few days, he's cleared it out, cleaned it up, and painted the floor with an oil-based primer/sealer. Today he put on the final coat of paint, making the floor a nice, clean gray. Next up is insulation and drywall...
I've been busy pruning our trees and shrubs, along with weeding our flower beds in preparation for making them into raised beds like we did in the front. We're also going to install a brick patio behind the parking pad next to the garage. It's currently a flower bed, but a rather unsuccessful one. I can't keep it weeded long enough to make it look nice, and I haven't come up with any other ideas for it. We have been planning to add a patio, but were unsure where we wanted it. This area is already grass-free, reasonably sized, and convenient to the house and garage for storage. Shayne's uncle has a roto-tiller, which we'll be using to get rid of the weeds, and we can hopefully get started on that within a few weeks.
