Dispatcher Appreciation/Recognition Week

Every year there is a week set aside to honor Emergency Dispatchers and the job they do. It is usually the second full week in April.

I don't talk about my job and its stresses very much. I try to spare my friends and family the details of all we go through.

Let's be real though.. it is a hard job. Sure, I sit there for 12 hours and that doesn't seem tough but that's all we get to do. Our job is to wait for the next 911 call. There is no running to the store, walking outside, working out etc. We are there in that room for 12 hours. Especially at night.

We are the first people that the caller talks to. We are their link to hope when their world is spinning out of control. They are angry at us, scared, frustrated, thankful people. We are asked constantly "why aren't they hear yet?". Every time they ask that I want to say "I wish they were already there too".  We hear people beg their loved ones not to die. We hear teenagers that have been in car accidents screaming for their friends to wake up. You don't forget those voices. Sometimes we are the first to hear a new baby cry. It has only happened twice in my career but those are sweet, precious sounds that I love. We have to figure out where you are when you have absolutely no clue. Remember the 911 call that was released in the media last month where the guy shot his girlfriend (by accident) with a cannon. That was a 911 call that I took. The female voice on the line? That is me.

We listen to multiple radio channels and answer in a timely manner. All of us have side projects too. Soon I will be training to review our medical calls to make sure we remain at the national standard. We have to worry about getting every call out in 60 seconds or less and face the ramifications if we drop below that. We have to remain CPR certified and have 24 hours of medical dispatching training per year. We have mandatory ride alongs with Battalions Chiefs so we are familiar with the areas we dispatch for. We are called in in a moments notice when there is a large fire or event. We go to training exercises, work a lot of overtime behind vacations and have meetings.

All this being said... I LOVE my job. I work with 8 other incredible dispatchers. It is the most difficult and rewarding job I've ever had and I am so thankful God opened the door for me to do this job. In honor of Dispatcher Week, I made everyone in the office a mini loaf. Some Banana nut and some Orange Cranberry. They loved it.

The BEST Triple Chocolate Muffins!

I have an addiction... to chocolate. Triple Chocolate muffins are at the top of my "favorite foods" list. Stater Bros has some seriously amazing chocolate muffins. I don't want to even think about how many calories and grams of fat are in each of those!

I found a great recipe, compliments of Pinterest!

Here's the link to the Original Recipe: Triple Chocolate Chunk Muffins

I was skeptical at first because there was no flour etc. Let me tell you... these muffins did NOT dissapoint.

Here's the recipe with my (slight) modifications:
1 3/4 c oats

3 egg whites
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup vanilla fat free Greek Yogurt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar (or 1-1/2 Tbsp. vinegar)
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water
1/2 C Sugar (original recipe calls for sugar substitute. I'm not a fan of those plus didn't have it on hand. I will probably reduce this to about 1/3 C next time)
•1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or use white chocolate or peanut butter chips!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with foil cupcake liners, or spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

In a blender, (or food processor), mix all of the ingredients together, except for the chocolate chips. Blend until oats are ground and mixture is smooth. *Next time I think I will blend the dry ingredients more before adding wet ingredients*

Pour batter into each cupcake liner (mine filled about 20 liners).

Place muffins tins in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove muffins from the oven (but don’t shut oven off), and distribute chocolate chips on top of each muffin.

Place the muffins back into the oven and bake for an additional 2-5 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. *Note, you could skip this step by putting all of the chips in the batter, and baking the muffins for 12-15 min straight, but this method gives the muffins the traditional ‘VitaTop Muffin’ look with the chocolate chips on top!

Cool muffins before removing from pan. ENJOY!!!

Servings: 20-24 Smaller Muffins

58 Calories Per Muffin



The original recipe says to put half of the chocolate chips in the batter then bake for a bit then top with remaining chocolate chips and bake the final 5 minutes. I just chose to put them all on the top after the forst 10 minutes in the oven.
This is such a yummy, easy and healthy snack when you're on the go or for the kids!

Annual King Family Christmas Cookie Day!

Every year the ladies of my family put together a cookie day around Christmastime. Usually we spend the day baking with some of our dearest friends and family members. The only problem was that we'd be so busy baking we'd barely have time to talk and hang out with everyone. We also kick the guys out during the baking and let them come back for taste testing later in the day.

This year we changed things. We turned the baking day into a cookie exchange and let the guys stay. I think I liked it better this way. Everyone brought cookies that were already baked, we had a ton of snack and everyone had a chance to visit. The kids played until they were exhausted then played a little more. Just about everyone that brought little ones said they slept in until about 8am the next day!

We had sugar cookies for the kids to decorate. Most of them weren't too interested.

Peyton wouldv'e stayed there all day if we had let her. She was ready to decorate cookies the moment I walked in the door that day. Most of the kids decorated 3 or 4 cookies then went back to played. Not Peyton though. She must have decorated a dozen cookies.

TJ had fun decorating too. Uncle Jared helped him out. He pretty much just decorated one cookie. He put frosting on it then a mound of spinkles. Then he would eat most of the sprinkles and some of the frosting then start the decorating process again. he must have consumed a full bottle of sprinkles by the end. It was fun to watch him.

 

I love having this get together every year. It is such a nice time for everyone to get together and visit. It made things easier to have everything already baked this year. I am thinking we should do a springtime cookie exchange also. Why not? It would be fun!

Cookies for a Cure: Update

This is a little late in coming, oh well.

I thought I made a lot of cookies last year. I was wrong. This year I made a lot of cookies. I am still in shock over how the orders just poured in. The first weekend I worked on cookies, I thought I was maybe starting to lose my mind by doing these cookies. By the following weekend I was sure I had lost my mind for doing this.

If you remember, I was making and selling cookies to raise money for Autism, Breast Cancer and Leukemia/Lymphoma

For Autism $60 was raised
For Leukemia/Lymphoma $25 was raised

I knew the Breast Cancer awareness cookies would be the big fundraiser. It always is. The grand total raised this year was:
$700!!!!!!! That is just amazing! A few people donated but did not order cookies with their donations. This year I made 62 dozen cookies.

SIXTY-TWO dozen cookies. I did the math for you... that is 744 cookies! All hand decorated and personalized. It was a lot of work but when I think about my friend Tanya's best friend that just passed away last month from breast cancer, Nancy who is like a second mom to me, my good friend Cory's mom, Katie's Aunt, my former Captain Chris, those that have found lumps that have turned out to be nothing and those who are waiting to hear what those lumps are... it is all worth it.
Here are some pictures of the cookie madness. Want to know whats even crazier? Not a single one of these pictures is a duplicate. There's one picture from each batch of cookies I made.



Look closely and you will notice cookies are stacked by 6 on the tables



New Cookie Cutters!

One person probably shouldn't be this excited about something as simple as Cookie Cutters. But.. I am!
I follow the blog of Sweet Sugarbelle. She is so inspiring and has great tutorials.I'm starting to get the hang of "flooding" cookies.It is time consuming so I can't do it as often as I'd like plus it has been so blasted HOT! Even an avid baker like me can't stand turning on the oven for an hour to make cookies.

Last week I was reading another blog I follow and it linked up to a website that sells cookie cutters. I decided to check them out and I fell in love. Big Time.

Depending on where you go, cookie cutters can range from $2-$4 or higher. A couple years ago I got a set of 101 cutters and it has every letter/number possible and a few shapes for each holiday. Sweet baking Supply has a few (ok, a lot) of different ones. And they are cheap!! I made a list of all of the ones I want. I will order some here and there until I have all of the ones I want.

I got the box in the mail yesterday and I was so excited. I opened it and found this:

They were wrapped neatly in tissue paper and sealed with their logo sticker. So cute. It felt like an extra special personal touch. The cutters themselves were tied in a simple bag with red and white stripe string.

Adorable.

I can't wait to start making cookies with them. This round I got a Puzzle Piece, Elephant, Lab Dog, Potted Flower, Cherries, Strawberry, Bee, and Ice Cream Cone. The site also has every color of sprinkle you could ever want so I ordered a bottle just to see how much you actually get. It is a little bigger than the bottle of sprinkles you can purchase in the grocery store but a lot less expensive. I think they were around $1.35- $1.50.

Now, if the weather would only cooperate, I could actually use these things.