Watching the Skies

I have a healthy fear of tornadoes having lived in Colorado all my life.  OK, maybe it’s not all that healthy, it’s a bit paranoid really.  Healthy as in: it’s kept me alive so far.

Amazingly, with all the tornadoes I've seen or been close to, a dozen or so, I've never actually been in a building that sustained damage.  I've even lived in a trailer (and God hates trailers, I'm sure of that.)

My experience is that most of them touch down east of I-25 (so I'm safe right? riiiiiiight) and they're rare in the metro area.  Of course I was living just west of 25 when one hovered above the house.  Another time a tornado took the roof off our neighbor's barn in the middle of the night.  Had the tornado hit our trailer, I’d be dead and not even know it yet.

Truly, I'm not prepared for a disaster either.  We lost power for an hour or so and I got nervous about why.  My first concern is always weather when the power goes out.  So, I  went out front and looked at the sky to the west.  Unfortunately that was the completely wrong direction as this storm system was flowing backwards from the usual way.  It took me awhile to realize that oh, the sky is getting cloudy to the east.

Then I found my radio & scrounged enough batteries to put in it, only to discover that it still didn’t work (there’s a switch to flip from AC to DC...sigh).  Called CB and let him know to watch the weather for me since I had no power.  Then I thought, hey!  I’ve got a charged laptop, I’ll find out what’s going on.  Then I realized, um, duh, no wireless router.  Sigh.  Did I think to plug into a phone jack?  No, I wasn’t thinking straight.

As the sky got darker, I decided instead to gather water and pillows and blankets just in case.  It wasn't frantic, I didn't want to scare the kids, but I was distracted.  I started checking out my food situation, which was pretty slim.  I was hungry but nothing looked good, and I hadn’t been to the store.  So I gathered what I could, just in case.

If a tornado hit my house, hopefully I'd be alert enough to get everyone to the basement and as protected as we could be.  I know that when the sky starts turning bizarre colors, it’s time to duck.  I know to stay away from windows, and what to do if I'm caught outside. 

But tornadoes are fast; they hit and they're gone.  A stockpile of food and clean socks probably isn’t going to help much.  Although if you’re having to stay in a shelter for a week because your house has been deemed unsafe after a tornado, an emergency pack would come in handy.

The one that worries me a bit is that if we had to evacuate because of something toxic on the highway, or something along those lines.  Something like that would require finding matched socks, clean underwear, food, and important documents to take with us in a big hurry.  I’m lucky to make it out of the house with everything I need on minor trips out of the house.

My favorite realization of the day was that TiVo is great for weather updates. I finally realized, after watching the same daycare footage in Windsor for the third time, that duh I didn’t have to watch it again.  I didn’t need to watch the weather continuously, I just had to scan the last 10 minutes and try to glean any useful new information.  And if I wanted to re-read one of the messages that scroll across the bottom, the rewind button worked.

As long as you have power, that is.

Planning My Own Surprise Party

LoveMunch told me a few weeks ago, "Mama, when it's your birthday we should all yell surprise and then hide!"  I cracked up and told him, "well that's nice, but don't you think you should be telling someone other than me?"

Then I thought about it a bit more and decided it was a good idea.  So I'm having a not-quite-40, nearly-surprising, surprise party.  My best friend is going to take me out several hours before the party starts, so as to not "spoil the surprise."  When I get home, everyone can yell surprise.  

And if they want, then they can hide.  

I wanted to do something slightly different and memorable for my 39th birthday.  My 29th was quite significant, 29 was a great year with huge changes.  So far, this year has seen quite a few changes too:  new car, new laptop, new clothes, changing my eating and exercise habits, just painted our house a new color, and, of course, my new/old hammock.

I think it all bodes well for this year.  And I think LoveMunch will love the opportunity to have a surprise party.

Going to my happy place

Happy Mother's Day to me!  CB put up my hammock on Sunday.  I've had it for 4 years or so now, but once we moved to this house we didn't have anywhere to put it up.

It was CB's idea to hang it in our bedroom (I married a genius!) Rather unconventional seating, but it makes me happy and our bedroom is big enough.  So here I sit typing away on my laptop in my hammock, the kids are having some quiet time, and I am too!

I fell in love with this hammock when I was 13 or so, hanging out at Hangouts on the Pearl Street Mall.  I didn't get it until I was in my mid-30's.  Sheesh! talk about delayed gratification.

I've already had some lovely moments chatting with each of my kids in the hammock.  It's not really comfortable with two kids (too many knees and elbows), so it's a one kid at a time deal.  It is wonderful to sit and really be with my son.  Singing songs and cuddling.  Monday, I had a nap in it.  Who could ask for a better Mother's Day present?

Blatant Bribery and Learning to Give

I took my kids to the thrift store and ended up resorting to outright bribery to get them to at least pretend to be civilized.  If you'll just be patient, let my look at one more thing, you'll get a treat.  

I worked hard to find a toy that wasn't broken, didn't make obnoxious noises, and most importantly didn't cost much.  We found a plastic bag filled with beanie baby sized animals at the thrift store for $3.  

As we were waiting in line I was thinking, “Oh crap!  Just what we need....more toys!” But I bought them anyway, as it would've been much harder to put them back at that point.

The first thing they did was pick out their favorites.  When we got home they lined them all up in the sleeping bag, turned off the lights and sang them lullabies; shushing me and making sure I stayed quiet.  Awwwww.

The next day we went to play with some friends from our homeschool co-op and SuperBob decided on his own to pick out beanie toys for each of them.  These kids were so excited to get a present!  And SuperBob had so much fun giving them away. The oldest came to me later and asked, "Is this really for me to keep?" When I told her yes, she danced around singing about how she got a new monkey.  All the kids had a toy and they played all sorts of games with them at the playground.

In a moment of questionable parenting I bought a big honking bag of little toys that we didn't need. And amazingly it became an opportunity for me to observe that my boys are learning some of the important things in life, like how to give to others, show compassion, and let things go.

That was the best $3 I’ve spent in a while.

Party Weekend (part 1)

The date on this is wrong, since I didn’t post it when I wrote it....this was April 25th & 26th. 

What a weekend!!!!  It was a party a party party weekend!

We went to Ms Sooz’s house Friday night for her hubby’s 40th surprise birthday party.  It’s so good to see them, and I’m so happy to experience the fact that John is still alive.    

No, no battles with fatal diseases, no car accidents.  He’s just the kind of guy who likes to blow up islands and pick up rattlesnakes for fun.  From the stories,and the video, I didn’t really even consider that he’d grow up.  40????  A father and husband?  No way!  If I could go back in time with that piece of information, it wouldn’t be believed.

From the first time I met him and breathed fire at him for being rude (and nearly burned his eyebrows off....sorry about that part) he struck me as an interesting person.  Because of John, I know what C4 is, I discovered an aptitude for Aikido, had some interesting adventures that started at the “Bring Me Men” bridge, chased bad guys, and I’ve been generally entertained.  So many tidbits, so many stories!

Congrats John!  I’m impressed and thankful to have known you for so long.  And the party was great!  Loud rowdy party, good mohitos and SuperBob is still talking about the chickens with the furry feet.  

Saturday morning first thing, I ran around and got the errands for the mother blessing handled.  I feel like such a procrastinator, at least I had the teacups early.  The weather was quite interesting, typical Colorado spring weather...everyone got different weather essentially.  Rain, yellowish clouds like a thunderstorm with occasional heavy snow, wind and the accompanying flying flower petals, freezing cold, and within an hour or so, mild and warm.

Then I ran home to the land of utter stress, unpacked some groceries, loaded whiny kids and went to Lowe’s to build a project.  They’re getting so good at building things, it’s so cool!  SuperBob actually figured out the instructions and showed his Daddy how to do it!  And LoveMunch didn’t hit me with a hammer even once -- simple pleasures!

My house was the site of the kids’ party while we had the mother blessing, so after a bit of frantic cleaning and set up at my house, I ducked out and went to Jess’ house to go help setup and calm down.  I went from jeans & T-shirt to skirt & blouse in about 5 minutes flat and took my curlers out on the road.  Whew!!!

The mother blessing was wonderful and beautiful and for all intents and purposes went the way it was planned.  Thank you Jess for being such a wonderful party planner and gracious hostess.  We didn’t have enough teacups and we didn’t get to do the henna, but there were beautiful stories, tears and laughter.  It was lovely.

Then we shuttled all the kids and Daddies from my house to Jess’ house and they hosted a BBQ.  The food was great and the company was splendid.  Jessica throws spectacular parties!

Controlling Bastard

Why would I call my husband “Controlling Bastard?”  I know it makes me sound like a raging bitch with issues to spare, but really it’s just a pet name.  

I’m just not the type to go for things like schnooky, sweetheart, honeybunch.  Gag.  I’m tired of calling him my hubby, and while “Dear Husband” is much sweeter, I wouldn’t want to give the wrong impression....I’m not that sweet.

CB was married before me and apparently his ex had major issues with his attitudes.  Their therapist told him, “I don’t know what you’ve done to this woman, but she thinks you’re a controlling bastard!”  He told me that story early in our relationship and it made me laugh, he was such a sweet, considerate guy....who could possibly think he’s a controlling bastard?

Since those early days, I’ve seen glimmers of why she called him that.  While he has his moments of trying to control everything around him, including me, I treat it as a challenge and use it to notice how strong I’ve gotten these days.  I have no issue telling him, “No thanks, I’m doing this now.”  Although sometimes, when I'm in a hurry and stressed, it does come out as, “Bite me!” 

I love him dearly, and my life would be more lonely without him.  He supports me emotionally and financially, he is father to our children, he listens to me when I have important things to say and when I’m blathering on, he shares my hopes and dreams, and he takes care of me and loves me even when I feel and look like crap.  I call him CB with love in my voice and my heart.

Just Getting My Head Together

Does any more really need to be said?  I've been having too much fun with my new computer.