Diary of a Hurricane Survivor

Thursday, 25 August, 1130--

I drop Josh off at work. He is flying out today, along with all of the jets on the base, to safety in Louisiana. I drive him so that we can keep his car safe in the garage.
Our first purchase as a married couple, the 2002 Toyota Corolla, must be protected from the hurricane.

Friday, 25 August, 1730--  (That would be 5:30pm for those who don't know and don't like to do simple math.)

I meet two other victims of Operation Abandon Family at the nearby Burger King. We know we'll be stuck inside tomorrow, so we're getting out while we can.
The food at this Burger King is singularly terrible, but it's right around the corner and the large play area is always empty.

Until we get there.

Friday, 25 August, 2000--

We've taken over the Burger King for two and a half hours now, and it's beginning to rain. Our children are happy and greasy.
I take Thing 1 and Thing 2 back home and give them washcloth baths.
Not because we don't have water and power, but because I am lazy.

It is already past bedtime, but I am Mother of the Year, and I let the kids finish watching Toy Story which we started earlier today. I put them down to bed, it is 9pm.

They are sleeping in my bedroom, because the hurricane is supposed to come in the night. Our bedroom does not have exterior windows; theirs do. Derek is on the floor and Alex is on Josh's side of the bed.


Friday, 25 August, 2130--

They are still up talking. I put on my grouchy face and threaten their very existence if they do not go immediately to sleep.

It works.

Saturday, 26 August, 0100--

I crawl into bed next to Alex.

I know, I know. I should have gone to bed before 1am, but I was reading a good book.

I try to snuggle up next to my little girl, but she is all knees and talons.
I roll over and fall asleep.

Saturday, 26 August, 0400--

Derek is making noises. He's calling for me.
He has lost his blanket and his aminals. I retrieve both and get back in bed.

Saturday, 26 August, 0600--

Derek is making noises. He's calling for me.
He has to go to the bathroom.

I take him across the house so that we don't wake Alex.
The wind is picking up; it's still raining.
Back to bed.

Saturday, 26 August, 0740--

Derek is making noises.
I am grouchy.
I am tired.
He should be tired; he stayed up late.

I see that windows do not appear to be in danger. I make him carry his blanket and aminals into his room.
I throw his mattress back onto his bed and point.
He gets my message.

I go back to bed.

Saturday, August 26, 0800--

Alex gets up.
Derek gets up.
I don't want to get up.

I put on a show and throw them some dry cereal. Tell them to wake me at their own risk.

Saturday, August 26, 0806--

The power has gone out.
I resign myself to the night being officially over.
I berate myself for not going to bed earlier.
I think about how nice some coffee would be; if we had power.

I remember that the hot water heater needs electricity to produce hot water, so I jump quickly into the shower. I can handle any emergency, as long as I am clean.

Saturday, August 26, 1200--

The hours are creeping by. It is very windy and very rainy. I refuse to open the fridge or freezer in hopes of not losing all the food inside.
We are having sunbutter sandwiches for lunch.
Thank goodness I have Oreos on hand.

Saturday, August 26, 1500--

This is the slowest moving storm. When shall it end? My little prepaid cell phone that can't text or make a call without dropping it a few times first is not working.

This is not shocking news.

But now I am cut off from civilzation.
 Is anyone out there?

Saturday, August 26, 1600--

The pantry is unappetizing. I consider opening the fridge, but resist.

I consider cannibalism, but feel that might be an overreaction. Besides, I have no way to cook.

My sanity is saved as the children watch 3/4 of a movie on the portable DVD player before the battery loses its charge.

Saturday, August 26, 1700--

The winds are abating, the rain is letting up.
My phone is still not working.
We are on hour 9 of no power.
The overcast sky makes the house start getting dark earlier than normal.
I set out the candles and flashlights

Lo, is that a knock on my door?

It is! It is a knock on my door!

It is Amy and all associated children.
They have gone crazy in their house down the street and have braved the  0.1 mile drive to my home.

We hug and cry.
(Okay, not really.)

But Amy has a smart phone!
Of course she does.
Who doesn't?

She has news and weather and information. 
Such as-- the roof of the mall collapsed.

No one was injured, so I feel it not too inappropriate to wonder if this means they might actually rebuild with stores at which people actually want to shop.

But no.
That might lead to progress.
And maybe eventually traffic lights that are timed so that you don't hit every red light on Berkeley Boulevard.

I think the city planners fear that will take away from the charm of this 'ol town, because I can't come up with any other reason they haven't already done this.

The kids play together. But they are getting grumpy, because it is nearing dinner time.

Amy has a rotisserie chicken in her slowly-warming fridge, so we grab the Oreos and head to her place. We drive around the neighborhood to see what kind of damage has been done. Downed branches, broken shutters, missing shingles. For the most part, nothing severe.


Saturday, August 26, 1655--

We are eating chicken in the dark while our husbands are watching Captain America in an air-conditioned movie theater in Louisiana.
But we are not bitter. If they were here, we'd have to share the chicken with them.

And the wine.


And then God said, LET THERE BE LIGHT.
And there was light.
And it was good.

We all do a happy dance! Air Conditioning! Lights! Internet! LIFE!
  
I got to the bathroom and turn on the light. I can now see that I have a huge red zit on the tip of my nose. But that's neither here nor there.

Saturday, August 26th 2030--


I am back home. The power is on, the kids are in bed. My cell gets service. I have 9 new messages. I snuggle up with my laptop and catch up with the latest news.
My husband should be back on Sunday night.
I go to bed, alone, at 11pm and sleep all night.

The End.


Signed, 
Rudolph

A Couple Clips

I was just uploading some video clips from the camera, and thought I would share a couple.

This first one is from Derek's birthday. It makes me laugh because he gets all excited about the present, but has no idea what it is. 
(And because Alex sneezes and then wipes her nose with her arm.
We are quite the sanitary family.)

This (sideways) clip is the culmination of 6 weeks of memory work from Alex's homeschooling. She learned Psalms chapter one. I am impressed with the amount that they can remember at this age!

In case you have trouble making out the words, you can see it written here.

Today there was an almost-constant hum of jet engines flying overhead as the base evacuated all of it's F-15Es to a safer location. It's kind of a bummer to lose Josh for one of our few remaining weekends, but it goes along with the territory. Hopefully this storm wont cause too much damage to the east coast; I think we're pretty safe here as we are a decent distance from the coast.

The next thing you know, we'll be having an earthquake!

Oh wait.
That already happened ;)

This image has been circulating around social media-- it made me chuckle.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's Wednesday Hodgepodge time! Join up here.

1. What is something that bothers you if it's not done perfectly?

Not many things bother me. I'm kind of a laid-back person. I would say that I have a high standard for services that cost a lot of money. Right now, we are having the exterior of our house in Idaho painted. Since it is a rather expensive endeavor, I will expect that the work be of good quality and hopefully last many years.

2. Do you think a 6th sense exists? Explain.

I had to look up a definition. Because my brain is rather mushy and filled with the story of Squirrel Nutkin, which I do not wish on anyone.

The definition I found was:

noun; A power of perception seemingly independent of the five senses; keen intuition.

In the case of that definition, I will say yes.
I think it goes along well with the Biblical principle of discernment, which includes wisdom and good judgement.

Psalm 119:25

                                                         I am your servant; give me discernment
                                                            that I may understand your statutes.

3. Do you say your goodbyes slowly, quickly, or not at all?

Well this is a timely question.
We are currently in the midst of a painfully slow goodbye as we get ready to send Josh off for 6 months. Making all of the preparations is a constant reminder that the day is fast approaching.

Here he is making a video of himself reading the kids' favorite books, and singing their bedtime songs.

Sniffle. Sniffle.

So while I prefer a quick or not-at-all goodbye, sometimes the choice is not mine.

4. On a scale of 1-10, with ten being hot hot hot, what level of spice do you like in your food? What's your favorite 'spicy' dish?

I'm about a 7. I really do enjoy spicy foods, but I can't have it so spicy that it numbs my taste buds.
Because then what is the point in eating? It's not as if I eat because I'm hungry.
That would be silly.
I eat for pleasure.

Oh, and sushi without wasabi is not sushi at all.

5. What is one of your all time favorite commercial jingles?

It's got to be the Quizno's Subs rats.

Do you remember them? They made no sense at all, but they always made me laugh. Who would think of having a really, really, really creepy looking rat as your spokesperson animal?

Kudos to you, Quizno's. It was certainly memorable.

They got a pepper bar!

6. Plane, train, boat or auto...your preferred method of travel?

I don't like any method of travel.
Air travel makes me nervous. You are totally at the mercy of the airline: overbooking, cancellations, being seated next to stinky people, etc. 

I used to enjoy the occasional car trip.

Then I had children.

I'm thinking a relocation cruise is probably the way to go. That way you can dine your way to your next destination.

7. What is something you take for granted?

Two things popped to my mind.

1-- Our freedom to worship & access to the Bible. In other areas of the world, Christians risk their lives to meet together and read the word. My greatest challenge is to stop playing Words with Friends so that I make some time to read it.

2-- That my kids will be little for a long, long time.

I'm afraid they wont.
They are growing too fast.

8. Insert your own random thought here.


Hurricane Irene is supposed to hit the NC coast this weekend.
Our heroes in green (aka my husband and others like him) will be hurrevac-ing. This is when they take their most valuable assets and get them to an inland location.

That is a nice way of saying:
Leave the wives and kids behind-- Get those jets to safety!

Happy Thanksgiving!

We've been having a fun weekend, and I'm not ready for it to end.

Thanksgiving dinner on Friday was a success, despite my bringing Stovetop stuffing.
I didn't feel too badly about it until my friend Ashlei showed up with her homemade cornbread stuffing, which was totally delicious.
You know, Ashlei with the 2 year old boy and 3 month old twins.

Remember them?

Well they are even cuter now, and Caleb's sweet little dimple is still charming everyone.

She had to make a special trip to the store, with her children, to get the ingredients and then she spent all afternoon cooking.

I boiled some water and fluffed with a fork.

The bad news? I'm totally content in my role as an underachiever.
And of course, I ate Ashlei's stuffing and not mine, so it was a win-win for me.

Here we are squinting into the sun, bedecked in our Chiefs' green.

Most of the squadron was there. The dinner was held at "The Family Place" on base, which is a former wing commander home that was converted into a place to hold such events.
The back yard was a kids' paradise.

Which is good because there are well over 50 kids in the squadron, and more on the way.

There is one crazy brave no, I'm going to stick with crazy, lady who has 3 daughters ages 4 and under, and is expecting a 4th while the guys are deployed!
So when I start to feel sorry for myself, I just think of her.

(Really, she has a terrific attitude and is excited about the new addition despite being on her own.)

Drag got his holidays confused and thought we were celebrating both Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Here is just one room of tables where we all feasted.
There were several others as well.

We all had a good time, especially Derek who was the biggest mess I had ever seen him and was just so proud of that fact. He had discarded his shoes somewhere between the bounce house and the choo-choo and reveled in getting himself just as dirty as possible.
His sister, meanwhile, was hanging out in the kitchen sampling each and every dessert.

Ah, a girl after my own heart.

It will be nice to remind the kids of how they had Thanksgiving with Daddy when we are celebrating the real holiday without him.

In other news, here is Alex all ready for her first dance class of the new season.

She had a good time, and afterward Josh took her out for an impromptu date at the Chik-fil-A. She was too excited about telling me that she got both chocolate milk and an ice cream cone to remember much about dance class.

Then I enjoyed my Saturday afternoon away at the baby shower for my friend Katie, and after that we went to church.

Whew! It was like the opposite of hermitville around here, was it not?

Today we slept in, swam for a bit, and now Josh is napping while I'm blogging and the kids are having quiet time. Tonight we'll go to our small group Bible study and then our weekend will be over.

I think I might have to stay home for the rest of the week to make up for all that socializing.

This post was brought to you by the lazy man's way of eating watermelon.

Also known as my way of eating watermelon.

Things I am thinking about.

1) Tomorrow is Thanksgiving Dinner and I am supposed to make enough stuffing to serve 30.

So...hypothetically speaking, how many boxes of Stovetop Stuffin' from your Microwave Oven would you buy?

(Do you remember that ditty from the commercial? Stovetop makes it easy, just push a little button, and you've got Stovetop stuffin' from you microwave oven.)

No?
Well that's embarrassing.

I kid. I jest.
I would never serve anyone Stovetop Stuffin' from your Microwave Oven. 

I'll be using my stove top.

2) On Saturday I'm helping out with the appetizers for a friend's baby shower.
These people must not read here, else they would know not to ask for my help with such things.

3) Alex's dance class starts back up this weekend.
She looks so cute in dance attire that I'm willing to overlook the fact that it will interfere with my hermitting.

4) I wonder how old my kids will be when they no longer think it's funny when I lip sync and dance to loud music while they eat.
It's good entertainment-- kind of like dinner theater, but without the talent.

5) I've heard that my fancy little e-mail linky might not be working. Anyone else not getting e-mails about new posts?
Not that I would know how to fix it or anything.

6) This stuff needs to be moved from my bedroom. It's the last thing I see before I go to sleep and it's totally interfering with my sleeping mojo.

I know he's leaving. I do not need the reminder.
Also, I keep tripping on it in the night when I am attending to my dear infant baby boy toddler who has to pee at 1am.

7) The election coverage. It's too soon. I can't take it. The next presidential election is over 14 months away and my esophagus cannot take the heartburn of political news coverage for that long.

Also, I kind of wish politics was off-limits on Facebook.

Along with anything relating to scabs.

8) I went to Krispy Kreme for the first time last weekend.
Alex and I had just finished up a chapter in our current read-aloud, Homer Price, about a misadventure with a doughnut machine. After reading about how it worked, it was fun to go and see the machine in action.
And, okay, have a doughnut hot off the press.

Alex did not want a hot one, though. Nope, she choose the chocolate and sprinkle covered one, which was no surprise at all.

Here's hoping the next chapter is all about a misadventure in some type of spa setting!

9) I can name all of the Duggar children.

10) The weather has been ever so much pleasanter these last several days. It's amazing how good a high of 90 feels after all those days at/near 100 degrees.

11) That's pretty much all I've been thinking about.


This message was brought to you by children in weird positions and the fathers who put them there.

Four.

This is the day that I should probably stop calling my sweet Derek a tiny infant baby boy.
He is four years old today, so now I must learn to refer to him as what he is:

A toddler.

(Forgive me, but I cannot be expected to allow him to grow up all at once, now can I?)

We celebrated his birthday on Sunday, since Josh could be home all day.
Alex and I wrapped his gifts the day before while he and Josh ran errands, and then we tormented him the rest of the evening with the stack of untouchable presents.

He would just stand by them, staring and smiling.

With his pants twisted because he can go potty all by himself
(I hate to brag, but he's totally advanced for a toddler.) 


The first gift he opened on Sunday was this alligator (crocodile?) squirt-gun that I found for 99 cents.

Since then, anyone who asks what he got for his birthday hears first and foremost about that squirt gun. I should have saved myself some money and just cleared out the dollar bins at Target for all his presents.

Our main gift to Derek was a Toy Story boombox and several books on CD for him to listen to during quiet time. So far, they've been a hit.
Except that the unabridged Winnie the Pooh stories were kind of over his head, so now Alex is happily keeping them company in her room during quiet time.
Yesterday, she didn't want to come out because she was still listening to the books.

I have a 6 and 4 year old! How did that happen?

Derek would make this face with every gift he opened...

We did not have a party for him, because:
1) I am lame
2) They are a lot of work
3) The boy is oblivious and probably didn't even notice

Instead we took him here:

And he had a grand 'ol time playing twenty dollars worth of games and earning enough tickets to bring home a twisty straw.

Good times.


Love that Birthday Boy!

PS-- I have special powers to read people's minds-- right now Pat the Bunny is thinking When are they going to get that boy a haircut?

Am I right PtB? Am I right?  ;)

Look at me!

Three posts in rapid succession-- I'm on fi-yah.

So Amiee asked in the comments how she could follow my blog (hi Amiee!), and sheepishly I hang my head and say I don't know. I'm not all that savvy with the techno-gadgetry.

But I was able to put something on the sidebar that lets you put your e-mail address in, and then you should get an e-mail of any post I write.
I know, it's like a dream come true, is it not?
Or possibly your worst nightmare, so don't feel obligated. 

Now, if you know my super-cool interworld friend Taylor @ The Lumberjack's Wife, you know that she has a Facebook page for her blog which makes it all sorts of convenient for me to know when she's posted.

Assuming I could find a techno-gadgetry-wizard who could talk me through the baby-steps of making that happen, would that be of assistance to any of you who might want to keep up with the crazy without having to check back here?

I'm not going to create one if no one is going to "like" it, because then I will feel like I did the first couple weeks in college when I didn't know anyone and my roommate didn't get the meal plan and I had to gain the freshman fifteen all by myself until I met a few friends.

Sniffle.

If you say a Facebook page would be helpful, then I will do it.

You know I would do anything for you, dear readers.
Well, anything except blog with any type of regularity. That is asking too much.
There is so much going on in my world!  I have only days left to pat the bottom of a three year old (it's a sweet, sweet little bottom.) I've heard 4 year old bottoms are totally different.
And I'm molding the mind of a future Supreme Court Judge.
I know she will have to be a lawyer, because my word if you heard her try to negotiate every last instruction I give her, you'd see her talent for it.

Also I'm busy dropping out of the gym. It's true, I'm a drop-out.
And to top it off, I have to feed this family, like, three times a day or more.
No one else has it this tough.
Laundry? Ever heard of it?
Mopping the floor? I do it every tenth fortnight! (Don't do the math, it's disgusting.)

Whew. I'm worn out just thinking about how hard my life is.

Except I'm totally joking and I have it made in the shade and if Josh ever catches on to how good of a thing I've got going here, he might add to my duties. So shhhhhhhhh!

Anyway, lemme know.
Or don't.

I'm like Burger King, you can have it your way.
(But only if you want it greasy and fattening)

This post is really getting away from me.
I think I need to stop.

Wednesday Hodgepodge

Good Morning, Wednesday!
Link up with Joyce for the Hodgepodge today-- she supplies the questions, you give the answers.

Simple enough, no?

1. If you could work for any one government agency which would you choose and why? (if you're in the US here's a helpful list)

I clicked on the list. And now I want to make a new government agency responsible for the dissolution of the multitude of unnecessary agencies. Look no further than the first page-- there is a department called the Administration on Aging. 

Newsflash-- I don't need government help to get old. Turns out the gray hairs are popping up all on their own.

2. How difficult is it for you to forgive someone who refuses to apologize?

Turns out I'm pretty forgetful, so give it enough time and I wont even remember.

3. What is your favorite meatless supper?

The kind someone else makes. Maybe pizza-- minus the pepperoni, of course.

4. Wednesday August 10th is National Lazy Day...will you be celebrating? If so, tell us how so we can be lazy too. 

 

I didn't know! I'll have to alter my plans today. 

 

Actually, now that I think of it, my plans will probably fit right in with National Lazy Day. 

5. As a child did you have any special back to school traditions and if so, what were they? If you're a parent did you carry on those traditions with your own children? 

 

We always had a painful picture taking session with my mother. She was by far the worst at taking pictures. She would take 10 minutes to snap one shot. Granted, you had to be more picky back then with film cameras, since you couldn't just "delete" what you didn't like. But still. 

And we had to say Snuffleupagus instead of cheese. 

You know, from Sesame Street.

Last year on Alex's first day of kindergarten the bus came early and I didn't get to take the picture. Then Josh followed the bus to school in his car. 

This year will be hard to choose which day is the "First Day of School" since we've been working a little bit through the summer. Maybe we'll commemorate our homeschooling year with a photo in pajamas.

6. Write a summer tongue twister.

Hot humid heat, hence heinous huge head of hair. 

7. Would you be interested in observing a surgery or do you turn away when the nurse brings out the needle?

As a nursing student, I enjoyed being present for certain surgeries, as I thought them interesting. 

One surgery I never want to see is anything involving orthopedics. The surgeon's toolkit consists of hammers and mallets you might expect to see in a garage. 

Oh, and I once watched a cesarean section birth. And for all of you mamas out there who had one-- you deserved much, much more sympathy.

8. Insert your own random thought here. 

 

 I love me some Beth Moore.

My favorite clip ever:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtk5WgzZcYA

It is Tuesday.

My post titles just keep getting more creative, no?

Josh is night-flying tonight, so I shall make an attempt to rejoin the bloggy world.

When he flies nights, he doesn't go in to work until the afternoon, so I was spoiled once again with a sleep-in morning.
Sometimes I wonder how I managed to snag such a good husband-- though he probably wont be home till 2am or later, he let me sleep in.

Sleeping in is going to be very high on my list of things that I will miss while he's away.

(Don't worry, I'll give him the honors tomorrow since he's working so late.)

Some folks have asked me when Josh will be leaving, since I allude to it so frequently can't stop writing about it all the dang time.

Well, I could tell you.

But then I'd have to kill you.

Ha.
Kidding.

I actually don't know.

But if I did know, I still couldn't tell you.
At least, not on the internet.
Or the telephone.

So if I knew, and we were standing face to face, and you knew Morse code, and I knew Morse code, I could tap it out for you.

The military does not believe it is very important for folks to have little 'ol things like dates. Because surely we have no life to plan things around.

(This is actually true for me. Until I met some friends for dinner tonight, I hadn't left the house since Saturday. Except to walk to the pool, of course. Think of all the gas money I've been saving. Also, all the social situations I've avoided. Being a hermit is the next big thing. I'm a trend setter, wait and see.)

So I don't know exactly when Josh will be leaving, but the good news is that we'll be able to have Thanksgiving dinner together.
(On August 19th.)

Since the squadron will be gone for the real Thanksgiving, one of the wives has arranged a squadron "Thanksgiving in August." We'll do it potluck style at place on base.
Complete with bouncy houses, and babysitters to help keep an eye on the many, many, MANY young children that come with the territory of a fighter squadron. (I'm not sure what the average age of a fighter pilot is, but Josh is now one of the "old guys" if that puts it in perspective.)

In other news, Charlotte took on a huge beetle yesterday, and kept us entertained for hours while she fought this bug.

 Creepy.
 That beetle was waving it's legs around trying to break out of her web of death, but Charlotte just kept wrapping it up until the poor beetle was unable to move any more.

Then she ate it.

I pulled out my big homeschooling notebook and marked Science-- check.

School is going pretty well. Alex is especially enjoying the ready-aloud books and is improving with her reading as well.

Derek is getting used to spending some time playing on his own. I've bought him a few pre-K workbooks to do while Alex and I are working together. He refers to them as doing his "spelling words" despite no spelling being involved. 

Also, when he does letter sounds he says things like "B. Buh, Buh, CAR."  Not quite, son.

He has a birthday coming up (sniffle, sniffle. ah, heck-- ugly cry.) and I've done my best to get him gifts that will serve to keep him occupied independently.

Of course, I'm just fooling myself, because the boy has to show me every letter he traces, and every teeny tiny ball he makes out of play-doh.
But a girl can dream, no?

One of the things he's getting is a connecting-model-making-type-toy called Zoob.
I'd never heard of it, but it came highly recommended so I guess we'll see how he likes it.
The name makes me laugh. You know some guy came up with it.
He made a product, couldn't think of a name, and said "heh. let's call 'em zoobs. cause it sounds like boobs."

I could be wrong, of course, but I'm probably going to chuckle to myself every time I tell my son to play with his zoobs.

Acting like a ten year old boy is one of my many talents.
Remember the evening of my armpit noise?

I rest my case.

Peanuts scare me.

Josh and I went out to lunch alone today, thanks to a one-day Vacation Bible School that the kids attended.

We actually had 5 whole hours without them, and I only used about 3 of them checking my cell phone to make sure no one was calling to tell me that Derek had been given milk, eggs, or peanuts.

Naturally I had packed his lunch myself, labeled his bag, lunchbox, and his cute little personage with warnings of immenent death should he be exposed to such things. Then I tattooed my cell number into his forehead, scared his teacher with instructions on what to do should he stop breathing, and then I let go.

When I signed them up last week, I asked the lady if she knew what they would be serving for lunch, but she did not. Thank goodness I didn't know until after we picked them up that the other children would be eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Because if I had known, that boy would have been sandwiched in the booth between me and Josh for lunch.

Though we would have had to choose a different location, since we ate at Logan's Roadhouse. We always choose the peanut-infused restaurants when he's not with us.

And if he hadn't gone, then we wouldn't have this little video of him. And we wouldn't be able to laugh at him for not really knowing what was going on, and constantly watching the video screen behind him.

The only other kid checking out the screen? Also ours.

Aaaaaaaand we love them.

With the other free hours of our day, we did some shopping for Josh. It feels a lot like we're getting ready to send him off to his first semester of college.
Twin sheets, shower caddy, shower shoes, laundry bags, roommate discussions, etc. He wanted to get an electric blanket, but it turns out that no one sells them when it's 100 degrees out. Guess we'll have to look online.
Or I can wait until winter and send it to him, I suppose.
But that just reminds me that he'll be leaving me when it's hot, and will still be gone when it's cold. And when he gets home, it wont be cold anymore.

Boo.

In other news, we have finally finished reading Charlotte's Web, so the kids got to watch the movie this week. I had never seen it before, and it was really cute. And very true to the book, although Alex was quick to point out anything that deviated from the original story. It was good to know that she actually was paying attention to the details while we read.
I sent a letter to her school last week, letting them know that she wouldn't be there for the first grade year.
Gulp.

I'm going to have to wrap it up for now. Bear with my infrequent posts these days. We have a short time left together as a family so for now I'm doing less of this and more of that. Soon I'll have more free evenings than I want to bore you with my drivel.

Enjoy the weekend!

The title is the hardest part.

Good news-- Today the temperatures have dipped down into the low-to-mid 90's!

I'm not sure that would have been "good news" a couple of weeks ago, but these days I'll take what I can get.
Last Friday, when the heat index was 107 degrees, I found myself pumping gas. Between the fumes, the heat, the price of gas, and the sweat collecting in my bra, I considered jumping into the freezer of ice at the station.

But I didn't. Because I had to go grocery shopping.
With the kids and no list.

This means we are now stocked with breakfast cereal, yogurt, and pretzels, but have nothing that can be made into a dinner. 

With Josh back to work, we've been busy with business. We've had every appointment known to man scheduled in recent days or coming up soon. Hair cuts, dental visits, doctor's appointments. Even the van had an appointment for new tires.
I really, really prefer at least one day a week with no mandatory events in it.
I need time to hone my skill of becoming a hermit.

We are in the midst of The Great Playroom Purge of 2011. It started last week.
Cleaning out the playroom was on my list for projects to tackle while Josh is gone, but I just couldn't wait any longer.
You can see the playroom through glass doors from the living room and every time I looked in it I cringed.

I spend a lot of time in the living room, you see.
Specifically on the couch. This is probably why the rest of my house looks the way it does.

I'll keep you posted on the progress.

So we've let the kids keep a little pet for the last couple of weeks. They named her Charlotte, which may seem an obvious choice for her, but is actually a creative stretch for our children.
Allow me to introduce you to their other favorite aminals:

From left to right we have:
Doggie, Doggie, Horsey, Ellie, Teddy, Teddy, Green Teddy, Dragy, and Lamby

So at least Charlotte is not Spidey.
Here is her picture.

I've been okay with keeping her around, because maybe she'll eat the mosquitoes, and also because there is glass and brick between she and I.
However, I recently recalled that chapter we read in Charlotte's Web mentioned the spider's egg sac and how it had 514 eggs in it.

This makes me wonder if we might need to take care of our little pet sometime soon, because while she may be a novelty, 500 of her would be less ideal.

Happy Monday.