Simply Not Simple

An addendum to the love of storms

As I watched the weather channel this morning (to see what our crazy-ass weather is going to do today), I saw a piece on the Alabama tornado that hit a school and killed several children.  I do NOT enjoy storms that hurt or kill people.  Destroying homes?  Yes it is devastating and sad.  But my personal opinion is that if you come through something with your body and spirit  intact and relatively unscathed, you are blessed.  Life and love are what really matters, material possesions mean nothing.  My heart is torn for these parents who blissfully sent their children to school that morning never to see them again.  I could probably just sit down and bawl for these parents, but who knows what the people in my completely male dominated environment would think about that.  I sure don't want to be seen as an emotionally unstable "girl", so I won't.  But my heart is definitely heavy right now.

On another note: this weekend I'm going to figure out my camera and start posting daily pics. Or, I'll definitely try to achieve that anyway.

A second note: it's jeans day at work and I'm sitting here in scrubs.  Why, you ask? Because my almost 15 year old child hates me and has not only not washed my jeans, she apparently HID them.  Some days I fear one of the two of us is not going to survive her childhood.

And my last note will emphasize just how dark my humor is (and how I'm able to work on a masters degree that will lead me to  a lifetime of dealing with gory deaths).  Wednesday while doing my assigned readings for my forensic pathology class I came across a photo of a man who had asphyxiated himself while drunk by falling between a bed and a wall in a position where his head and neck were on the floor and his (naked) body was up in the air.  His body put so much pressure on his neck that it closed off his windpipe.  Sad, you say?  I have been laughing EVERY time I think about it.  Can you imagine the funeral?  We're so sorry your loved one got so stinking drunk they accidentally killed themselves.  And oh, we're sorry that naked pictures of your loved one will be captured and recorded forever in forensic pathology books.  What a stupid way to die!  I guess living with my frat boy husband and attending enough frat parties to realize just how idiotic drunk people can be has lowered my tolerance to that sort of behavior a bit.

Hope I haven't disturbed anyone too much today!

I love storms!

We had a beautiful, warm sunshiny day yesterday.  We drove around with windows open and it was all so spring-y and beautiful.  But this is Oklahoma and the saying "if you don't like the weather, wait 30 minutes" is SOOO true.  Last night at about 1:30 I heard hail.  I got up and watched the hail and heavy rains for about 15 minutes.  The hail was pea-marble sized so it wasn't bug enough to damage anything but it looked cool.  And my Trailblazer was in the garage so it was only G's car out in the hailstorm.  It became boring when the hail stopped so I went back to bed.  The only sign of the storm last night is that our temp went from 70- 40.  The good news is I only need to wait another 30 minutes for the weather to change.

I have to admit I'm an adrenaline junky

Sad, but true.  I loved working in the ER, but I only liked working in the critical trauma/medical area.  I wasn't excited by strep throats, sprained ankles or stitches but when that ambulance docked I was SO there!  I love thrill rides and thrill weather.  Even though I live in OK I have never been in a tornado.  I have seen them forming but I've never had one come at me.  During a particularly bad tornado warning my husband and I stood upstairs at our boys' window and watched funnel clouds form and dip down.  My MIL HATES this side of me, most likely because she's afraid she'll have to raise my five kids if I die.  So even though I griped about the weather I really, really wanted my 9 inches of snow!  I love snow and I really wanted to watch it fall and go out and play with the kids in it.  We only got rain and I'm bummed.  It may ice up overnight, but I don't think it's expected to stay that way.  I feel like I've been shortchanged.  Maybe I'll have exciting things to write about during tornado season.

Hello everyone from the land of the frozen

Good morning.  My first post mentioned my uncanny ability to injure myself due to a complete, absolute lack of grace.  It was made abundantly clear to me yesterday that ice is yet another foe to my well being.  As I sat singing winter songs with my children and making hot chocolate checking out the webiverse I heard a vehicle in front of my house spinning tires.  Because I'm all about kindness to others and loving the cold I let them spin their tires for about five minutes before I realized they were going nowhere. 

Hey!  It had nothing to do with selfishness,  I was just trying not to embarrass them and their lack of winter weather knowledge.  Because, after all, my parents ARE from upstate New York and their terrific winter driving skills have been passed down to me.  Okay, well that was a total lie, but I think those sorts of things SHOULD be genetic.  Maybe then I wouldn't be stuck in my home as I have been the last SIX DAYS with children who were sick of the ice after only three days.  Now they're bored, fighting and generally not being pleasant.  (Ya do have to love them though because it's a rule somewhere). 

Where was I?  Oh yes, the poor people that I was helping out by not helping them.  After 5 minutes I finally looked out the window to see them spinning their tires sliding toward either my basketball goal or my mailbox.  Hmm, I thought, maybe I should consider helping my fellow human beings.  I stick my head out the door and ask if they needed help.  When they shrugged at me I told them I'd be there after I got my coat on.  I get my coat on, realize that every single glove we have (at least 50 I'm guessing) is either soaking wet or mysteriously vanished.  So gloveless I venture out. 

As I take one step the adventure begins.  Not only is the road icy, but apparently it is slightly melting and because of that is unbelievably slippery.  I stand at the top of my very slightly sloping yard and silde uncontrollably all the way down.  Luckily my brick mailbox stopped me with only minimal pain.  It is at this point that I realize there is no way my clumsy self can help push their jeep.  Luckily one of my neighbors came walking up.  I think he must have had grippy things on the bottom of his shoes because he didn't slip or fall at all.  Or I am a klutz, it's definitely one of the two. 

While the neighbor is walking toward me the female of the stranded two asked me "is that Scott?"  I looked at her a little bewilderedly and tried to figure out if I knew my neighbor's name.  I don't.  I tell her "I don't know."  The sad thing about this is I live on a cul-de-sac with only 11 houses.  I only know the name of one of my neighbors and that's because my oldest two girls are best friends with her two girls.  That's pretty sad, isn't it?  We don't see our neighbors much and when we first moved in 5 years ago we weren't paying attention when they introduced themselves and how on earth do you ask someone you've lived by for five years what their name is?  I suck, I fully admit it.

After my hero neighbor (the same man who put out my unfortunate backyard fire 2 years after moving in- another story for another time) came over and pushed their truck up the hill in the snow he asked me who those people were.  I think he assumed they were visting us since they were in front of our house.  I told them I didn't know who they were.  It wasn't until later that I realized she was the daughter of a different neighbor who lives across the street.  She's 23 so I haven't seen her much lately and she has changed a lot.  I feel bad though, not only did I not know one neighbor's name, but I couldn't remember the girl who had lived across the street from me who HAD MY NAME!

  Darn brain cells, please come back to me.  The incident ended in five children laughing so hard they were crying because their mom had to crawl to the front door because every time I tried to walk up my almost non-existent slope I slid backward further than I went forward.  And Sat they're expecting another 4-6 inches of snow.  I'm not sure I'm in OK anymore.