Off to see the wizard.

Yesterday afternoon while I was watching the news a tornado watch was issued for some surrounding areas, including the county I live in.

Normally I just ignore them.  I know that sounds terrible, but I have been fortunate enough never to see a tornado in my area my whole life.  Plus, I'm a lover of crazy summer thunderstorms.

Last night was different though.  When the warning was issued I started to get anxious.  I was upset because I was scheduled to work at 11 last night, & I was planning to be napping when the wicked storm was supposed to hit.  DJ wasn't going to be home, & I was convinced that the house was going to be blown away without me knowing.  He assured me I was crazy, like usual.

Although I slept a little, I kept having bad dreams & ended up waking up long before my alarm was set to go off.

I turned on the news, & what do you know?

The report was bad.  The storm was headed to us, & would be on top of us within a half hour.  People were reporting seeing tornados where it was already raining, & the meteorologists were seeing cloud rotation close to me.

When the storm was about 10 minutes away & a few towns over, the weatherman said, "There is definite cloud rotation.  We can't confirm whether or not a tornado is already on the gound.  It's heading for Renee's house (I know I souldn't joke about this, but wouldn't that have been funny?).  You have 10 minutes to get into the basement."

And so, that is what I did.  I took my laptop, knowing I would lose power & not get news reports from the TV.  I just hoped the internet would hold out.  It did not, by the way. 

Next I trapped my 2 girl cats in the basement, which was easy enough to do with a bag of treats.  Then, I had to carry my dog downstairs.  She had never even seen a flight of stairs until we lived in this house, & she is not brave enough to venture down.  Once that was done, I had to fight with my boy cat.  He doesn't like to be held, so it was an  epic battle...that I ultimately won.  I essentially hog-tied my cat, covered his head with my shirt & ran down the stairs while trying desperately to hold on.

Once my fur babies were safely downstairs, I didn't dare open the door.  In my panic, it didn't occur to me to grab my flashlight or candles or anything I might actually need.   No, no, instead there I was with 3 misbehaving cats, a terrified dog, my cell phone & a laptop that soon proved to be worhtless when the internet failed.

In an attempt to keep myself calm, I talked to my mom & MIL periodically.  I had no idea what was going on.  There was no way for me to know what the situation with the storm was.  My only view of the outside world was through a tiny (& dirty, because I don't clean it) basement window.  I couldn't see anything because the sky was black, except for occasional pink lightening.

I'll be honest, I was pretty freaking terrified.  I was also sure this was not going to end well.  Thankfully, it did.  We got a severe thunderstorm & nothing more.  Everyone was safe.

We were without power for a few hours, so when I ventured back upstairs I lit every candle in the house & read a book by flashlight.

DJ got home shortly after the power came back on.  And although I was able to laugh a little about my disaster precautions, I was still a little on edge.

In hindsight everyone will probably think it was silly of me to go so overboard, but I don't think it was.  Not only did the newscaster say it was specifically headed to my town & I had 10 minutes to take cover, but I knew this was coming since 3 in the afternoon.

Call it a message, or maybe a sixth sense, but I was sure this storm was going to be bad & I needed to be awake when it arrived.

I guess the moral of my story is this:  trust your instincts.  They're right more often than you think.

Step 2

Last week my MIL dug out what was supposed to be a small flower bed in front of my house.  It ended up looking like this:

It didn't end up so small, but that's okay because I know have big plans for the space.

Yesterday afternoon we continued our work, & this time I had a lot more to contribute.  Yay for feeling like I have a purpose!

That soil desperately needed to be tilled to get rid of all some of the rocks & even it out for planting.  Since it finally stopped raining here & the mud patch finally dried out, it was rock solid & raking was a chore.  I've got a giant blister on my hand to prove it.

Once that was done, we lined the flower bed with logs to frame it out.

Now it looks like this:

Much better.

Tomorrow is the big day:  planting.

I work tonight, so I'll get home around 7:30 tomorrow morning.  The plan is to get out of my dirty scrubs & into something suitable for gardening, then heading straight for the greenhouse.

I'm going to be planting until I pass out from lack of sleep for as long as it takes to finish (hopefully!) so that everything is in the ground before it starts to become unbearably hot around here.  And trust me when I tell you, those days are quickly coming.

Can't wait to share pictures of the finished product!

I'm a crazy person.

My MIL & I resumed work on my flower bed in progess today.  One of the things we did was frame it with logs from the wood pile in her backyard. 

My FIL  thinks it's necessary to have a very large wood pile, even though they have a very small fire pit.  MIL is sick of looking at it,  so she tries to pawn the logs off onto anyone who will have them.  It was a bonus for me, because it makes the flowerbed look really nice.

But, back to my point - which is the fact that I'm crazy.

It's nothing new, but I've got one more reason to add to the list:  I'm not ashamed to embarass myself.

My little SIL just got a giant trampoline for her birthday last week.  And even though there's nothing slim or trim about me, I couldn't resist jumping on it.  So there I am, in all my jiggly glory, jumping on a trampoline...while the classy neighbor is doing yard work.

While I was busy making a fool of myself, little SIL was begging me to go swimming.  As much as I love the pool, I was far too lazy to go home for my bathing suit.  But because I love the pool far too much, I went ahead & jumped in - fully clothed.

I'm positive that after it was all over the neighbor probably thinks I should be committed, but I'm kind of okay with that.

Back to the grind

My lovely, eleven day vacation is officially over.  I go back to work tonight at 11:00.

It rained almost the entire time, so most of my to do list didn't get finished, but I'm not worried about it.

The rainy weather forced me to take some much needed relaxation time, & I'm thankful for that.

This was my first real vacation since switching jobs last year, & it also happened to be the first vacation that I didn't spend dreading my return to work.

That was a really great feeling.

Here's hoping the good feeling from this time off hangs around for a little while longer - even if I am back at work.

Potential

Yesterday morning my MIL came over to take a baby from our lilac bush.  While she was here she asked, "Do you want a flower bed out front?"  Immediately afterward she started ripping the grass out along the front of my house.

No time like the present, eh?

By the end of the day, this is what we were left with:

It's way bigger than we originally planned, but we expanded it to encompass a patch of yellow flags I planted to hide some ugly sewer pipes in the middle of the yard.

The plans for the little patch of earth expanded with the digging too.

Instead of just a flower bed, I'm going to plant ornamental grass, flowering shrubs & other manner of BIG things.

The next phase is letting it dry out a little after the week of rain we just had, & after that it's onto tilling the soil by hand to remove grass clumps & rocks.

But soon - very, very soon - it will be much more than just a patch of earth.

Readjusting

I'm writing this post at 12:30 AM, which may be why I'm really unsure of what I want to say.

During my vacation I've somehome managed to toally reverse my sleep schedule.  I'm not even sleeping in until 9 or 10.  I've been falling asleep between 11-12 & waking up by 8 everyday.

That's a slight problem, considering that I go back to work at 11:00 PM Sunday.

What to do?

So far this evening morning I've been watching ridiculous things on Netflix & am cooking a meal for tomorrow.

It's helping a little, but the fact that my animals are all passed out around me & DJ is lost in computer land is really dragging me in the direction of sleep.

Staring at this computer screen isn't helping either.

What's a girl to do?

Wordless Wednesday: So gross...

I know it's Wordless Wednesday, but I think this requires some explanation.

My vacuum wasn't working properly, which usually means there's a clog.

This is what I emptied out of the vacuum hose, & it makes me question my decision to own pets.

Tuesday Ten

It's raining today.  It's been raining since Friday. It's supposed to rain until at least Friday.  It's left me with a total lack of inspiration.

Imagine that?

So today I'm phoning this one in.  I'm not being a Tuesday Ten hater, I'm just saying that I don't even have the energy it requires to make my Tuesday Ten creative & funny like my buddy G.

(Do you see what I did there, Gini????  I'm totally impressed with myself now.)

Anyway, enough of the inside joke.  Now to the Main Event:


1.  I took my mom shopping for a Mother's Day gift last night.  It was a week late, but that was her fault.  She wanted to get Ugg boots, but ended up with a ring instead.   That made me happy. 

2.  I came home from the grocery store to find a flock of geese milling around the field behind my house. Random.

3.  I'm still on vacation, & I don't go back until Sunday night.  The plan for the rest of the week?  Laziness.

4.  Maury reached an all time low today by having a stained blanket tested for an angry wife.  I'm still trying to wrap my head around the idea that Maury could have gone any lower than he already was.

5.  Is it wrong of me to want to delete some distant relatives from Facebook?  Is it wrong that I don't care if it's wrong?  Then, do those two wrongs make a right?

6. On my way to my next door neighbor's house this morning, I found 4 four leaf clovers.

7.  I don't care if chips & salsa aren't a suitable lunch.

8. According to some religious zealots in my area, the world is going to end on Saturday.  I'm glad I had vacation this week.

9.  I bought a new lunch box last night.  It has owls on it.  You know you're jealous.

10.  Given what the poor people in the south are currently bracing themselves for, I find it a little offensive to see a "flood watch" symbol in the corner of my TV screen.  The worst thing that's going to happen here is that we may not be able to use a low-lying road for a while.  Not really a flood, if you ask me.

A room full of sweaty, fat guys

I'm sure that title left you wanting to read more.  The thought of a room full of sweaty, fat guys is oh-so-appealing.

You must be asking why I would ever be writing about sweaty, fat guys in the first place.  It follows the usual theme of my blog posts:  everything is DJ's fault.

DJ is the VP of a gaming club in our area.  His club hosted a tournament for a tabletop game called Warhammer over the weekend.  There were approximately 50 sweaty, fat (and sweaty, thin) guys playing in the tournament.

It wasn't all bad though, because there were some super hot chicks hosting a bake sale too.

And the time & effort these sweaty, fat guys put into building an army to play this game is amazing.  I thought I'd share some pictures of the artwork...& some other things I took pictures of when I got bored.

In case you thought I was joking about the sweaty, fat guys.



The dragon was painted by one of the few ladies in the group, & was the winner of the painting competition.  Girl power!



We had a bake sale to raise money for the club.

Cake Pops decorated like the dice used for the game. Yum!



They were short one name tag, but leave it to the women to come up with a suitable replacement.  He wore that plate all day.  Heehee!



Even though he makes me hang out with sweaty, fat guys, I do love him.

Of course it would rain.

Normally I love rainy weather, but I had a plan for this week.

I had a plan to get things done around the house during my vacation.

At the top of my to do list was to finally stain our deck.

So, naturally, it's supposed to rain off & on until at least Wednesday.

There goes that idea.

What a pisser...

Just one of those days...

Last night was my last night at work before my 11 day vacation.

So naturally, nothing went smoothly at all.

Actually, I shouldn't say that.  Everything was fine until about 4:45 AM.

At 4:45 AM I was on my way to empty my dirty linens, & as a passed one of the resident's rooms I heard the most awful noise.

A nurse & I went running in only to find sed resident totally naked, covered in poop & bleeding from the head - because she slipped in a puddle of her own pee.

Needless to say chaos ensued & before it was over I was covered in all manner of bodily fluids.

Have I mentioned lately how much I need this vacation?

To do list

As of 7 AM on Wednesday I am officially on vacation.

Yay! Yay! Yay! Super yay!

We're not going anywhere, but we have lots of at home projects to work on during my 11 beautiful days off.

Who wants to take bets on how much of this stuff I actually get done??

Here's the list:

• Stain the deck
• Do some miscellanous yard work & planting
• Go to the optomotrist
• Go to the dentist
• Bake tons of yummy stuff for a bake sale for an event DJ & his friends are having
• Take all my deck & porch furniture out of storage
• Clean all the furniture since it's in shed covered in mouse poop.  Ummm...ewww
• Do something about the nest of mice in my shed. What exactly, I do not know. Any suggestions are welcome.
• Have the first cookout of the summer
• Spend lots of time with my family
• Make some trips to local farmer's markets.  I know I've got some local followers.  Green Dragon or Leesport anyone?
• Relax. Relax. Relax some more.

If I get done with half of these things, I'll be such a happy girl.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms in Bloggyland from my "fur babies" & I!

Life is short.

A coworker of mine passed away yesterday.  She was 61-years-old.

Having had surgery for a previous back injury, she dealt with chronic pain.  As it slowly worsened over time, she attributed it to "getting older."

When she couldn't take it anymore & saw a doctor it turned out to be much more.  She was diagnosed with cancer only a few short weeks ago, & it was already too late.

She was always friendly & helpful; very easy to get along with.

She will be missed.

It's FINALLY done!

Anyone who's been reading my blog for any length of time (although I'm not entirely sure anyone is still reading since I'm a bad blogger) has inevitably heard about my purple room.

DJ & I moved into our house in February of 2010.  Most of our house was unpacked & set up quickly...but then there was the purple room.

Our spare bedroom, which was always meant to be DJ's computer room, has been filled with boxed of unpacked stuff & all manner of things we've had nowhere to go with.

There were several unsuccessful attempts to clean out the purple room in the last year, but it never got totally finished because I'm lazy.  I have no other excuse.

But, life on 3rd shift has changed me, & even on my nights off I find myself wide awake until at least 7 AM.  So, there I was at 2:30 this morning with nothing to do & I faced the fact that this task was long overdue.

And finally, we have use of the spare bedroom...and a whole lot of junk to sell at a yard sale.