Thunderstorms, Tornadoes and Flooding...Oh My!

Last night a series of storms rolled by leaving in it's wake some terrible damage. Fortunately, where we were, the storms just skirted around us producing some heavy rain.

My family lives about 80 miles southwest of us and their area was hit hard. My youngest son was staying with his dad and experienced the horrible weather as well. None of my family was hurt and their properties are still intact.

About 4 tornadoes touched down (two confirmed). At one of the malls, it did considerable damage and shattered the windows of the cars in the parking lots. There was an 18 wheeler that was turned on it's side and a gas pump that was actually turned over on top of a vehicle. Visible roof damage and various debris from nearby business was also found.

Here's some photos from the area. Please pray for those who were injured and suffered storm damage.

This and That

It's still rainy here. I don't really mind that much. It's made the weather much cooler for this time of year, however, it is still a bit muggy. My dryer started making some weird noises a few weeks back, so I stopped using it and have been line drying my clothes. Yes, it's a little more work, but I don't mind. There's something quite peaceful about hanging your clothes outside.

I found some rope and tied it up between the posts on my back patio. I can usually hang a full load out. With the weather turned rainy, I have been drying my clothes inside. I and them on wire hangers and then hang the hangers on my fireplace mantle. I can usually get a 1 load done a day. It works out o.k. since there is usually just 4 of us here at one time.

I don't like how my towels come out. Anyone have any suggestions? What did people do way back when...you know...when there were no electric dryers and the only choice you had was to hang them out to dry?

My hubby is going to fix the dryer when he has some time to fiddle with it. He has been working so hard lately. He doesn't get a day off until Wed. 8/5. By that time, he will have worked 12 days in a row and some of them were 12 hours a day. He has a very physically demanding job, and is usually just plain wore out when he gets home. I hate to bug him about the dryer...I know he will get to it.

I managed to get my kitchen completely cleaned yesterday in spite of the headache I had. I have been getting them much more frequently lately...and as usual, they will last approximately 3 days. I tried to not take any "meds" for my headache yesterday and drank some tea and kept warm moist heat on the back of my neck/head to relax the blood vessels...but to no avail. I finally broke down about 3:30 and went out and bought some B.C. powder - something I haven't taken in years. About an hour or two after taking it, I started to feel some relief and was able to get dinner done and clean the kitchen up afterwards. Today, I am so much better. Was up at 6:00 am...did my morning chores (wipe bathroom counters, toilets, wipe down kitchen counters, sweep kitchen floors) dusted the living areas and vacuumed the floors, worked on my grocery list and menu (still working on those), washed a load of laundry - still have to hang to dry.

This afternoon, I go and pick up Blake. He's been staying with his dad for almost a week now and I miss him. Tomorrow, we pick up Brian's kids for the weekend. So my now very quiet house will be full of kids and noises this weekend. Then the quietness will return next week as school starts.

Ah well, more on that later.

Hope everyone has a blessed Thursday.

Watch Out...I'm Back!!

To those of you who have faithfully been checking my blog, I haven't quit. I just needed to take a blogging summer break.

I will "officially" start blogging again starting this Monday, August 3rd. Wow! Can you believe that it is August already!!

So much has been going on this summer and I just needed to step away from the computer and take care of everything else.

But I have missed blogging and am ready to start up again.

What do you want to see on this blog? Anything particular, or are my ramblings o.k.?

Drop me a comment anytime!

Today is cleaning the kitchen day and I have woke up late (have been doing that lately since there are NO kids here - I'll go into why later). My 18 yr old is at work, hubby is at a friend's house helping with their broken fridge...so I'm enjoying a quiet house. The sun is shinning...although, I believe it will only be brief today as the rain is supposed to be here for 8 days in a row....that's right, time to build that ark! LOL!!!!

I need to clean out the fridge and freezer today and get some more baking done. Yesterday I made two loaves of banana bread and a pan of honey rolls. Today, I need to get some pizza crusts made and hamburger buns. We'll see as I have been battling a migraine for 2 days now, it does slow me down.

Have a blessed Wednesday!!!

Happy 4th!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful 4th of July celebrating with their family and friends!

Huh?

Sorry everyone for such short posts. I just haven't been in the "blogging" mood the past few days.

Anyway, soooo, I forgot to take pictures of the bumper pad before my friend came and picked it up. It was my first time making one and I think I did pretty good. If I ever make another one, there will be a few changes that I make.

I didn't use a pattern, just did my own thing. It took about 3 yards of fabric to make it along with the ties. Sewing wasn't hard at all and didn't take long. The most time consuming was pinning and making the ties. All in all, it took me about 4 hours to complete. I bought the foam insert at Walmart and had a lot left over to use for another project.

I had some material left over that I used to make cloth napkins this morning.

I used up the rest of the turkey that I roasted yesterday and made turkey teryaki sandwiches with a curried bean salad ( I love this salad!).

It's just me and two of my stepkids here tonight. We'll probably watch some T.V. and then read.

I've got to work on my checkbook...somehow the bank messed something up and now it's messed us up.. A LOT!!! We've got to get this figured out. Can someone tell me how when we have not used the checking account in over a week that charges are still appearing on our account....one was for 22 cents!! We have not used the account at any time for just 22 cents...come on! Ok....breathing now. I know it will get taken care of. I just need to let it go for now. There's nothing I can do about it tonight. Tomorrow is another day. This maybe one of those things I let my husband take care of just because I can get so emotional.

Take care and have a blessed Wednesday night.