It’s been awhile since I’ve looked over and written about fire search strings that lead people to this blog. It’s interesting to look through our stats and find out what fire specific searches caused people to come here. Sometimes they’re funny. A few are repeat offenders. Some are scary.

Let’s take a look at some recent and/or frequent searches.

1. Firefighter costumes/helmets/homemade/etc. It’s the number one search string in general, actually, that brings people to our humble Internet abode. Our favorite firefighter costume is still the Aeromax one that we reviewed last year. We have it in both black and yellow. As far as homemade costumes go, I will remind you that I’m not crafty. However, I did give some instructions and one of our readers actually accomplished it. Glad I could be of help!

2. Accidentally left gas burner on all night. QUIT GOOGLING. Turn it off. Open a window. Don’t turn on anything else. Get out of your house. QUIT GOOGLING. Call the Fire Department. Google outside from your phone. Out out out.

3. Fire helmet cookies. We actually got our fire truck, hydrant and helmet cookie cutters as a wedding gift with no brand imprinted on them. A quick Google search brings up a few affordable results, including this one from Fancy Flours. That said, I have a new tip to share other than the food coloring issue I shared last time. Roll your cookies thin. Whatever recipe you’re using, if you want your fire truck to look like anything more than a fluffy phallic symbol, roll them very thin. As an added tip: cook them for a minute less. Otherwise? Burnt cookies.

4. Do firefighters make more money when they ____. The rest of the search string was cut off. The answer? Likely not. Okay, okay. I kid. Firefighters may not be the highest paid people in our country but professional firefighters do make money. Most departments pay extra for call outs (you know, the fires that happen while you’re eating Christmas Eve dinner) and extended shifts. It depends on the department. But, in case you were wondering, you’re never going to be a millionaire on firefighting alone.

5. Is firefighting boring? No! Stories usually start out like, “So, there I was, flames shooting 30 feet in the air.” I mean, our sons want to be firefighters, not a freelance writer who moonlights as a photographer. To them, firefighters are the be all and end all of everything that is awesome. Yes, there’s down time as a firefighter. Yes, you have to clean trucks, wash floors and respond to false alarms. But anyone who considers running into a burning building to be a boring action likely has a strong death wish. Plus, there’s the added bonus of the uniform hotness. See below.

Whatever the reason you’ve landed here, I’m glad you have! Feel free to subscribe to the blog, leave a comment on a recent post or ask a question either in the comments on this post or via the contact form. I have a new firefighter book review (for kids) coming up in the near future along with a review of some “firefighter hot” snacks. Fun!

I’ve been absent from the You Capture challenges for awhile, having been caught up in life (and death). When I saw that this week’s challenge was faces, I thought I’d take advantage of the opportunity to get some new face collages of my kids. BigBrother is a Face Making King. LittleBrother is just learning what faces go with what emotions. They both enjoyed a bit of time in front of the camera.

BigBrother made five really good faces: left top, sad; left bottom, angry; center, happy; right top, silly; right bottom, surprised.

Then I asked him to make his favorite face and he ended up with this gem:

Next came LittleBrother’s turn. He was distracted by BigBrother and FireDad. Plus his attention span is a bit shorter, being only two, but he came up with three great faces: left, happy; right top, sad; right bottom, surprised.

And then he melted down which is a perfect sad face all of its own.

I enjoyed this challenge and I think the boys did, too. You know, until LittleBrother melted. Life is hard when you’re two.

Next week’s challenge is work. I’m not sure how to approach this one as I work six different jobs (five freelancing, one out-of-home) and, you know, care for these two wild and crazy guys all day long. I think it will be an interesting challenge and I hope to put a little bit of thought and time into it. I’ll be interested to see what everyone else comes up with as well. Until then, check out everyone else’s face pictures today.