Drive by posting.....

 Spring has been great so far. It feels good to be out of the house. Lately Matthew has taken over Trevor's skateboard....which means I'll probably have to buy him his own soon. There wasn't much interest in it for a long time....until now. Of course they both want it at the same time. Gosh Matthew looks so big in that picture.

I did some yard work while the kids were out in the front. Plus today was the first day that the turtles came out from being stuck inside all winter. They loved it. What used to be a huge nusiance of dandelions in the grass, is now heaven to the tortoises. They did a great job wandering around the yard and eating the flowers.

Mornings like this make me love Kentucky. It is beautiful in the spring. Several weeks ago I was at Matthew's school, (which is a big school, but there happened to be a huge window at the end of a long hallway. Out this window I saw part of a horse farm across the street from the bus loop. There were horses grazing. I thought, "What a view.") It looked like a postcard.

Yesterday I drove Matthew to school since we had been going through more sealed boxes in the garage and found a bunch of books for him to donate to his teacher's class library. The bag was pretty heavy for the bus, plus some mornings I like to make a treat for Matthew and take him to McDonald's for a McGwiddle. (How he says McGriddle.) We enjoyed the pretty drive, on a twisty road canopied by trees just starting to get leaves.

I parked in the parking lot at the school. We sat for a minute while he finished up on his breakfast, and I looked as the sun was coming up over the trees. The farm across the street along with the white blooms on the trees in the contrast looked so pretty. Almost breathtaking. (No horses out today though.) We sat for a few minutes and I watched the colors brighten.

That in the above photo is a barn. Under that window, you can see sliding doors. Yeah, some horses here have it made. This is one of several enormous farms near Matthew's school. You can see why I love the drive.

As you exit, the farm with the white fencing takes up as far as your eye can see ahead and beside you. I can picture riding in that field at a nice canter. By the way....the farm below is for sale. I know what I want for Christmas.

I'm glad I had my camera with me. They aren't great photos because they really don't do it any justice, but this is part of our 'everyday.' I wish I could have somehow captured the sunrise, the way it felt, the way I felt watching it.

 Below: my flowers have bloomed. They look so pretty. The arrangement is pretty big and very difficult to get a good photo of. I still love them.

saturday

 Above: my flowers on day 2. There are a couple more waiting to open. They were so pretty when I woke up and saw them this morning. I split the arrangement so that Megan could have some on her desk in her room.

 Well, this was a basket of clean blankets, ready to be taken upstairs to a linen closet. However, Piper decided that it is her bed. I was on my computer and started to hear her snore. I didn't realize she was in the basket (she's the same color as the blanket) She seems to like this better than her bed. That blanket and basket may belong to her now.

Today was beautiful outside. I tackled a little bit more of the garage which had since been messed up after Mike and I worked so hard on it before. Moving from the big house we had in Phoenix....we had a lot of stuff. Plus moving again here in Kentucky, I realized that there is stuff that I am simply sick and tired of moving around with me. Kitchen stuff I don't use as much, or things that I have replaced since working at Kohl's. Plus some of my motivation was to find things to donate for friends who lost everything because of the tornado, or if they had family that needed some things. It was a good reason to pare down.

A lot of clothes that Megan and Matthew have grown out of, and some toys mainly. One family I know only has the clothes that were in the washer and dryer that one day. The laundry room was in the basement....and the tornado took their upstairs. Including all of their clothing. The only thing she had were winter things at the time, so now that the weather is changing....I have some kids' clothing until she can pick up a few more things. It's amazing to think that you have to build a new wardrobe, for several people in your family, when usually you have a long period of collecting things.

The toys above are some of Megan's old Playmobile things. We had a HUGE moving box full of these things, and sets that she had. Part of me really wanted to hang onto them (I still love looking at the new Playmobile sets at the store and am always tempted to buy one.) but....we can't hang on to everything. The thought of some little girl having a huge collection of farm/people/camping/princess/castle/safari stuff made both Megan and I happy. I figured that it wasn't worth keeping, and taking a photo of some of them would help us remember as much as keeping a big box that takes up space in the garage. There were many hours playing with these things. I hope somebody else has as many.

Flowers and domestic day

 Hm. I have no idea why these pictures come out looking as weird and grainy as they do on my blog. They aren't like that on my camera, or my computer. I need tech support to show me what I am doing wrong here.

Today there was a surprise at the door for me. Flowers! They had come in a box, and at first I thought that they had been mis-delivered. BUT they had my name on them!! Mike is so good about keeping me with fresh flowers all the time, but since he is away I certainly didn't expect anything. I admit, I totally cried when I saw that they were from him. It makes me so happy to come up the stairs and see them sitting on the kitchen island.

They are in bud form right now and promise to open within the next few days. I am actually so excited that I get to watch them change. Right now they are all packed in there, or closed. They look beautiful on the website he ordered them from. I think they are beautiful now, but like I said I am pretty excited about being able to watch them the next few days.

 (Megan would kill me if she knew I posted that photo. This was after her bike ride.....)

Weather is nice today. Lots of thunderstorms yesterday which I admit kind of freak me out right now. I think still trying to come down after the past two weeks with all of the tornado damage. It has still been strange.

The kids are all off from school today for some faculty related thing. We're happy about the three day weekend! So today Megan and Trevor went for a bike ride. They were gone for a little while, and Matthew and I stayed home and watched a Lego TV show together. As soon as the two got home, Matthew and Trevor went out and played outside. Today has been a 'no electronics' kind of day.

Megan and I made a cake from scratch this one which was amazing. It was so simple, but it is sooooo good. I found it on Pinterest. (Love Pinterest!) While the cake was baking, we made chicken enchiladas. We did all the work on top of the stove until the cake was done, which by that time it was ready to put the pan of enchiladas in the oven to bake for awhile.

I'm somewhat impressed with my domestic skills today.

That photo does not look good with the grain....but oh, that is one beautiful cake. The glaze oozes down into the little caverns of cinnamon mixture. Yum.

Trevor at park - taken with my phone

Today was beautiful! After the kids got home from school we went to the park. Apparently at some time since last summer, they put up totally new equipment. There is now a three story tall structure with slides coming out
from different sides, swinging things, obstacle courses.....it's COOL.

The boys spent some time playing with each other while Megan and I walked a little under 2 miles around the park. It just felt good to be outside and enjoying warmer weather.

not my photo....taken from the internet from a resident in Crittenden. Those are some very expensive horse trailers. I hope that they are still around.

not my photo, but it is getting closer.

and then the day after all of the rain and nasty tornadoes, we woke up with several inches of snow on the ground. This is so strange. I feel bad for those who were working through the night trying to find belongings at what was left of their houses. It was bitter cold.

after all of the excitement of the weekend, early on a Monday morning, here is Trevor - showered, dressed, brushed.....and asleep. He snuggles right into the corners of the couch. It is way too early to go to school.

The changes of the past few days. There have been obvious changes of behavior around town. People are quiet, they are helpful....but it reminds me a lot of the eeriness of September 11th when people were out but not sure what to say to each other. This was my experience at the stores once I made my way out. I didn't drive south of here as they were saying that it was so congested with all of the work trucks trying to repair the power, and roofing people, and the hundreds of volunteers who had been out to help clean up. I did drive down the road a bit and witnessed horses and cattle on the side of the road, furniture and papers everywhere, clothing stuck up in trees. You can't help but know that is all pieces of somebody's life. There are odd things that you see now and wonder if something fell off a truck, or just happened to land there after the wind. Like a metal mailbox in the middle of a busy road. How far did it come?

The weather. This is a biggie. Two days before the tornado we were enjoying some amazing spring like weather. We were outside in it and had the windows open. Then the day that the tornado hit. The next day started out chilly, but got increasingly colder through the day. Which brought a few inches of snow overnight. Snow. For real. It's so weird. Now, according the weather we are going to start warming up this week. It will be a crazy spring that is for sure.

Monday I had a dental appointment. As soon as all of the kids were off for the day, I drove out to the office. I thought I was going in for a cleaning, but the sweet girl behind the counter said, "We are doing a filling today?" and clapped her hands with excitement. I said, "Uh, nooooo I thought it was for a cleaning." I think she could tell that I must have straightened right up when she said filling and figured that I was nervous. Yes, yes I was. I don't really like going to the dentist. Plus the last time I was there, even though they took good care of me, I had an extraction and that freaked me out a bit.

I had to be brave. I went on back....and she asked me if I wanted any laughing gas. You bet. Yes PLEASE.
I was able to lay there for about 5 minutes with oxygen over my nose. Then she came and adjusted the gas.....a deep breath.....and I could feel my eyes just roll backwards, and my hands feel numb. Oh yeeeah. I'm not nervous at all anymore. I got to lay there for about 15 minutes while they kept coming in and checking on me. I felt goooooooood. I felt like I was a part of the chair. I learned I can get a shot of gas next time even if I'm nervous for a cleaning. I think that I will start getting monthly cleanings, and I'm sure there is a lot of work we can find to do in there. I looooove my dentist. I also love the bottled water, the pot of apple cider, and the cookies. - most importantly, I love the people who don't hurt me! Yay to healthy teeth!

This new format is not my friend. It has made motivation for blogging nearly impossible.

So the other day we made it through a tornado. I am not a fan....at all.

The photo above is right after the line passed. The sun was a nice thing to see. (View of back/side yard, taken from the deck, looking west.)

It's weird, because the day before everybody was talking about this big storm on the way. I was happily off of work on a Friday night for once, and our only plans were to go through the Catholic church's drive through fish fry for dinner. (Is that some sort of Kentucky phenomenon? Because I don't remember churches doing that in AZ during lent.) It's a huge thing. Cars line up and circle huge church buildings, where somebody with a radio is taking orders and then by the time you slowly drive around to another area your order is done. Now we don't observe or have anything to do with lent, but I tell you what....we look forward to it because it smells SO GOOD. - This coming from somebody who doesn't like fish.

However, we didn't have fish for dinner on Friday.

Earlier in the morning, I was having second thoughts on sending Matthew to school. Mike and I had both been tracking a huge storm that was on the way, and it was supposed to hit between 4 and 5:00. During the time that Matthew is on a bus, coming home from school. He had already been absent one day earlier this week because of some asthma issues, so I was hoping to not miss another day of school.

Only around lunch time I was starting to wish I had kept him home. I just had a gut feeling. I fought that feeling for awhile and decided I would see how things were going by the time I had picked up Megan and Trevor, who go to school much closer to our house and have a release time before the storm was due to hit. By the time they got out of school, I had talked via texting with several of my friends who have been through this before. One said, "I have not seen anything like this since I was about 7 years old. I'm pretty nervous." 

I was also nervous when somebody at work had texted me that when they went to McDonald's to get some iced tea, that the people from the show Storm Chasers were in our town. THAT can't be good.

I still fought with myself because I was trying really hard not to give into fear, because I have let that dictate too many things in my life. There is irrational fear that prevents you from actually LIVING your life, and fear that is good, normal and healthy. That's the fear that you listen to. Which I did this time, but I really did struggle with what was the best thing to do here.  I went and got him. I didn't' want to worry about him being on a bus on the interstate, miles away from our house when this storm hit. I was actually pretty surprised that the school hadn't closed early considering neighboring counties had sent their kids home early.

As soon as I got to the school, there was a solid line of moms there to pick up their kids. We drove home, and I checked the radar. Already the weather alarm clock thingie was going off. I don't like that sound. It startles me every single time. Plus I think this is the very first time in my life I have actually heard the emergency broadcast system in the works. It didn't say, "This is a test."

The boys were bringing the turtles downstairs while I brought in cases of water from the garage. 

We all came downstairs into our basement room, turned on the TV, and had Mike on IM watching the storm with me. We watched as red blobs showed where it was headed. Which was really scary as you hear the people on the news telling you exactly where the center of the storm was....it was in Indiana, then crossing the river into Kentucky, then Rabbit Hash....and you start hearing these places that are familiar with you. There were four cells that converged about five miles from here. It was heading our way and I kept hearing  Mike on IM, the radio and the news telling people in our area to get into a basement now. We all sat in the farthest corner of our basement, which is the laundry room that has a concrete wall on one of the sides. Far away from the two windows that we do have in this room.

I heard the sirens. (Another noise I don't like, especially when it is still outside.) The rain hadn't started, and the entire outside was green. It was weird. Just green and still. Then rain, then wind. When we were in the laundry room I could hear the top of the house creaking. For what seemed like 10 minutes all we could hear was creaking and popping. It sounded like somebody was taking the top part of the house and wringing it out like a wet towel. You could almost feel it swaying. I just kept hoping I wasn't going to hear the 'train' noise that everybody says is the worst. If it sounds worse than what I heard, I hope to never hear that sound. Just a solid 10 minutes of loud noise, and then pounding hail. Apparently this was slow moving and circled around here for a bit.

I was texting a few of my friends who were also in their basements, or some who were stuck at Kohl's, in customer service without knowing what was going on. Everybody had been sent to the back of the store and the power had gone out. (Our power stayed on thank goodness.)

It felt like forever, and the kids did really well. Megan was on the phone with one of her friends who had called scared to death because she was home alone. Trevor was visibly nervous, and Matthew seemed like he was actually having fun because he was playing on a DS and working on a bottle of Gatorade.

Which actually, I am happy that was Matthew's experience this time because later I found out that buses from his school hadn't made it out in time. One bus stopped at the firehouse and all of the kids went into the safe area in there, another bus had stopped at a residence and brought a bus load of kids into a basement, and several other buses including Matthew's stopped at the high school and went into the safe areas there. The kids on those buses didn't get home until 6:00. I felt good that I had Matthew, but felt terrible for all of those other kids, and for parents who were scared and wondering where their children were. (We did get texts and emails from the school that the buses were not on the road and that the kids were all inside.) But whew....I was glad I had all three of mine in the house. The timing of this storm was terrible. Not that there is a good time, but between 4 -5 is when so many people are out on the road, or out after getting off of school or work.

It was finally over at our house. But at this point I was getting texts from a good friend of mine that it was hitting her house. She was in the basement with her two kids. I thought it was interesting how much we all kind of relied on our phones and texting to keep in touch during this whole thing. Power was out at Kohl's for the rest of the night, so I was texting my friends there letting them know if the sirens had stopped, or what we were experiencing. It was hard to know what we had just been through, and then hearing from somebody else who was going through it at that moment. I was relaying what I was hearing on the news, who were giving moment by moment updates that the tornado had touched down on the interstate near the house, and going by landmarks to gauge where it was. The texting was a pretty cool tool.

Also, when I wasn't in the laundry room, I was on IM with Mike who was getting us through the whole thing. I felt so bad as I'm sure he was scared and frustrated that he was away and couldn't do anything. This is nature though, and even though you can predict a path, you can't predict what will happen.

We were lucky. A town so close to here was hit really bad. Two of my coworkers lost their houses (one was stuck at Kohl's while her teenage son was in the basement under a mattress while the house was torn from above him. I can't imagine getting texts during that and feeling so helpless.) Her house is entirely gone. A whole neighborhood was destroyed, barns, vehicles.....it is a mess. I had heard that they brought in dogs to start looking for missing people. One of my friends had found out that her friend was killed. The trees look like broken sticks. It's so surreal. I'm not used to seeing this stuff first hand like this. Living in AZ, this was always something on the news, far away. I've been through several storms of possible tornadoes where the sirens go off and you kind of grumpily say "Tornado siren. Damn." and it puts a dent in your day. Never anything like this. It's crazy.

Of course we were lucky. All we've had to do is retrieve garbage cans and try to match random siding picked up from the yard to whatever house was missing a piece. Our house did well. Nothing that I could see damage wise. I secretly did wish that our neighbor would have lost some of their yard art though. lol.

- and now we have a cool story to tell. Plus a little bit of cleanup of water bottles, crackers, legos and army men downstairs.