1. Weeding the garden. That's not something I would typically love, but with the wide raised beds that we have now, and the walkways to stand on, it is very, VERY easy to hoe all 4 beds in a matter of 15-20 minutes. I even hand weeded around the lettuce. Weeds/grass just come out so easily because the dirt isn't compacted from being walked on. So yes, I actually enjoyed it!
2. Moving the big bed into the kids' room. Andy and I are trying to get Ruby into a big bed, but we only have one bedroom (besides ours) in our house right now. So with some gut-sucking effort, I (by myself) moved Ira's twin mattress, box spring, bed frame, and headboard downstairs and moved the Queen mattress, box spring, and bed frame from the basement to the kids' room. I set it up in their room like a "kid's King bed" (i.e. tucked the sheets in at the long side, not the foot, like you traditionally would.) It's nice to have room for 3 (or even all 4) of us to be able to snuggle in and read books at night. Ruby has done fairly well taking naps in it (she's definitely not the "the floor is lava" type like Ira was, but she does stay in the room - just not always in the bed.) Night time. Well, that's not something I love. It's like a freakin' circus in there with 2 of them in the same bed. They bounce and squeak the mattress, get out of bed, come out of the room, jump on the bed, and Ruby even BIT Ira last night!! (Where they're getting all this I do NOT know as they NEVER act like that any other time.) So we're still trying to figure out what to do at night. Ruby has ended up in her crib both nights we've tried because Ira does has school in the morning and we don't want him to be too tired. The Queen bed is temporary anyway until we can find a twin over full bunk bed that has enough headroom on the bottom bunk that when Andy/I sit down we don't hit our heads on the top bunk. (Really, is that asking too much?!)
4. At Mass one day last week Ruby wanted swaddled in her blanket (seriously, I know, she's crazy) As I was holding her, she arched her head back and it was like total deja-vu of all the times I saw her on sonogram when I was pregnant with her. She still has the exact same face/cheeks/chin/head shape as she did in utero. I was certainly waxing nostalgic.
6. The soften button on our microwave. It's the little things really. But it has come in so handy lately to soften but not melt or even heat up frozen shredded cheese, frozen yogurt starter, and ice cream. Seriously, it is really cool.
9. Surviving. By the grace of God we were spared from an EF-3 Tornado heading straight toward us on Saturday night. Seriously, it miraculously stopped less than 2 miles from our house. It was horrifying to actually be taking shelter from a very imminent and real (and large (1/2 - 1 mile wide) tornado. Andy's brother and his 2 children joined us in our 10-15 sq. ft. under-the-stairs closet. There were 7 of us in there along with all the stuff that we had put down there during the day in case we really did get hit: (a duffle bag with jeans, shirts, socks, underwear, and tennis shoes for all of us; 5 of Ruby's diapers, a cover, wipes, and wetbag; my NFP charts and my medicines; a box of my contacts and my glasses; our external hard drive; peanut butter crackers, granola bars; a gallon of water; our wallets, cell phones, and keys; all the camcorder tapes we've taken; our DSLR camera and charger; flashlights; a battery powered radio; 4 heavy pilllows from our bed, a DeWalt sawz-all with 3 spare batteries; and a hatchet - just in case you're curious.) It was surreal to be sitting in our storm shelter wondering not if, but when we would get hit, what it would sound like, and how bad it would be. We heard them say on the radio, "Town X, you are in a Tornado Emergency. If you are in Town X, you need to get underground or you will not survive." We heard lots of loud booms (thunder apparently) then it was silent for a long time. Ira nearly passed out/puked (because of the total lack of oxygen) but we escaped unscathed (both ourselves and our property.) A number of homesteads outside of town took direct hits, so please keep those families in your prayers. No injuries, but there are a number of total property losses. I can't even fathom if it had been us. Andy said our guardian angels must have been standing outside of town slashing the tornadoes apart. And I tell you what, the "Angel of God" prayer had never been more meaningful than praying it that night with the kids when we put them to bed (before we went to the basement.)
"Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love entrusts me here.
Ever this night be at my side: to light, to guard, to rule, and to guide.
Amen."
3 comments:
We were praying for all of you in town that night! We took shelter from the same tornado, I think, but it went wide of our area by quite a bit. It's just impossible to see them in the dark, so we woke then kids and took them to the shelter just in case. It's been about three years since we used the storm shelter. Now I pray it'll be another three years before one comes so close again.
SO glad you are all alright!! It was a scary night!!
Lilies of the valley with striped leaves I believe are your flowers...I was just looking at an article about them in Birds and Blooms today in the dr. waiting room. I didn't realize there were other types of lilies of the valley (even pink ones!). I've been really enjoying your posts. And I am glad to hear you're alive and well. Yikes!!!
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