Week in Review-5.24.13

This week was a fantastic week if you don't count all the stupid sever weather we had and the fact the Elsie was sick!

1.  The weekend was super fun!  We had our first campfire and had John's family over.  See Post:  Saturday Evening BBQ and celebrated a birthday of a special little boy.  See Post:  Tailgating in Des Moines.  That evening we had our first batch of severe weather, complete with Tornado warnings and watches.  Book club was cancelled and postponed to Monday night.  Before the weather came in though we took Elsie out in the Burley for the first time and she loved it!!!

2.  Another round of severe weather came our way Monday night so we swept Elsie up out of her crib and headed back to Dale and Bev's.  After the storm passed we went home and say this beautiful complete double rainbow.  I then headed over to Amber's for a very small book club group.  There was just three of us.  This months book is our choice:  Whatever we want to read and then we will share what we read over the month.  

3.  I can't believe it but my niece Allie graduated from pre-school and will be a big kindergartner next year.  I can't believe how fast she is growing up! 

                                        

4.  Well we dealt with some sickness again in our house this past week. Elsie was diagnosed with an ear infection on Wednesday but no fever so the doctor recommended waiting on antibitoics to see if it would clear up on its own.  Well it didn't and by Thursday we were back in with a fever and she was put on antibiotics.  Well on Friday we were back in again because she was in so much pain, was so upset she was inconsolable when the ibuprofen was wearing off.  It just broke my heart.  She stopped eating and drinking and I was kind of concerned because it seemed like she was getting worse, not better.  So we called and they thought we should bring her in.  Well the doctor thought it was just her ears...I thought there was something else going on and later in the weekend I would end up finding out first hand how crappy she actually felt. 

Even when she is sick she can still be naughty :)

Of course, the minute we got home from the doctor she was feeling miraculously better and wanted to play outside-she looks happy to me. 

5.  One day I told Elsie to go get her hat so we could go play outside...well this is the hat she came back with and wanted to wear it outside.  

Weekend Wrap Up

Wow!  What a great weekend!   It was close to perfect I would say :) It was VERY busy but it was VERY good.  I will have a couple of more detailed posts later this week but I thought I would just do a quick post on the weekend.

We weren't planning on being home this weekend, we had planned to take the camper out for the first time but after seeing the forecast and the potential for thunderstorms I decided it might be nice to spend a weekend at home and get some projects done.  I made a Goals for the Weekend List (a little too ambitious list I might say) and hoped to get a lot accomplished.  I didn't get even half the stuff on the list done but that is okay because the weekend turned out just perfect.

Friday
On Tuesday last week I decided since we were going to be home I would throw together some freezer meals.  I subscribe to a site called Once a Month Mom which makes the process pretty easy.  You can enter in the number of servings you want and it will put together a master grocery list and change the recipe amounts to how many servings you want.  This was my first time using this site andd it went pretty well.  I think it was easier instead of putting together the grocery list all on my own.  I shopped for ingredients on Wednesday and started some of the prep Thursday (like browning meat, chopping veggies etc.) and then on Friday John and I put the meals together.  We ended up with 22 dinners and 8 individual serving lunches.  I am looking forward to trying them!  We tasted the soup and it was delicious.  This is what we made. Most of these were doubled.

1.  Beef Tortellini Soup
2.  Breakfast Enchiladas
3.  Chili
4. Orange Chicken and Veggie Stir Fry
5.  Balsamic Pulled Pork Sliders
6.  Chili Garlic Meatballs
7. Taco Ziti
8.  Pesto Chicken Sandwhiches
9.  Greek Chicken Skewers
10.  Tex Mex Chicken and Rice
11.  Sweet and Spicy Pork Chops

We had the meals done, cleaned up, and were bed by 11:00.  Pretty Exciting Friday night :)

SATURDAY
Saturday morning John had to go in to work for a few hours so Elsie and I played and did some housework. Later in the morning, Marc, Amber and the kids biked over to drop something off.  It was a wonderful little distraction to our morning.  It was a beautiful day and was so nice to sit outside, let the kids play, and visit a little bit.  Kari and little Briggs stopped by to visit too.  John got home and after they left we made lunch, put Elsie to bed and went to work.  We cleaned out the garage (we could barely fit my car in there), washed the bikes and the burley, we washed all the patio furniture and cushions, I donated 3 boxes and 2 bags of clothes to the local clothing closet, and then ran to the store.  Brandi ended up saying that if we were still available the would love to come over and grill out  (I had asked her earlier in the week but she thought they were busy).  So we had them over along with Dale and Bev for dinner and a fire.  It was so much fun!  We ended the night with a couple of rounds of "Starlight, Star Bright, Hope to see a Ghost Tonight" or what I called Ghost in the Graveyard.  It was so much fun and glad the impromptu get together worked out!

SUNDAY
Because Elsie was up late on Saturday night she slept in until 6:00 (lucky us) :)  So we were up early, ate breakfast, and John took off to do some cattle work.  When we got home we got ready to go to Des Moines for a special little boys birthday party.  It was such a nice time (more on this later).  It was a perfect day for a tailgate and baseball game (we only did the tailgate).  After the game we ran a few errands like drop off a whole car load of stuff to Goodwill. It felt so good to get that stuff out of our garage and it was also one of my 30 Goals so it feels good to get that checked off the list.  When we came home, Elsie napped, I worked on photos/blog stuff and John changed the tubes in our bike tires and the jogging stroller.  After Elsie woke she had snack, I updated our tornado kit and we decided it was a nice time to head out for our first bike ride of the season and Elsie's first time in the Burley.

\

She was pretty excited and I think really enjoyed it.

After we got home I kept on the local channel and watched the updates with the weather.  We were in a Tornado Watch and were forecasting to have some severed storms.  The storms were a couple counties away so I figured I would have time to get Elsie in the bath and in her jammies before it got too close to us.  Of course I was hoping it wouldn't hit us anyways but it appeared to be inevitable.  So I put her in the bath and as the water was running all our weather alerts were going off (the TV, my phone, and our weather radio).  I figured that it was just another warning for another county and then my heart stopped when I heard them say my county was in a Tornado Warning.  I yelled for John (he was down getting our tornado area ready), grabbed Elsie out of the bath and handed her off to John while I got clothes and a diaper for her.  We decided to head over to his parents to use their basement instead of our crawl space.  Elsie could play with the toys down there while we waited out the storm.  Ugh, I just hate severe weather.  Thankfully, we only got some heavy rain and the bad stuff stayed a few miles south of us.  

There were a few things we didn't get crossed off the list like buy flowers and plant them, go for a couple runs, finish a couple blog posts, and get in some work hours but I wouldn't trade those unexpected moments that came up for anything.  Thanks to everyone who helped make our weekend so wonderful :)

One of My Biggest Fears

I had to laugh at myself this morning as I was recounting my night last night to my mother-in-law.  So, one of my biggest fears is SEVERE thunderstorms that could produce tornadoes.  I feel like this has started only in the last 5 years or so and I can't figure out the root of this fear but lately it has gotten bad.  Tornadoes I feel can be so unpredictable.  And they can be so dangerous and cause so much damage in just a short amount of time.  If I know that a storm is just going to cause thunder, lightning, and some hail I am okay.  But I fell at any moment a tornado can arise.

So the other night I had John get our "tornado area" ready.  Our plan is to go underneath the stairs in the basement so we have a sleeping bag down there to wrap up in and flashlights in case the electricity goes out.  In our bedroom, I have him get Cinder's leash by the bed, we have both our headlamps by our bedside and I get my "tornado outfit" ready.  My outfit includes sweatpants, sweatshirt, and tennis shoes that I am protected head to toe haha.  I know it sounds silly but if it makes me feel better...  And of course we keep our weather radio in our bedroom too.  I have the most wonderful husband who does all this to make me happy.  He has no fear of tornadoes and would sleep through the whole thing if I let him.

Well last night we had strong strom predictions.  Around 11:30 PM the weather radio goes off for our country for a servere thunderstorm warning.  We had given Cinder a sedative (prescribed by our vet) before the storm came our way.  If you think I am scared of storms, you should see Cinder haha.  We gave her one pill (it is prescribed for up to two).  There had been no tornado warnings since the storm got to Iowa so I had relaxed a little thinking that it must have died down. Well I was wrong, not too much longer the weather radio went off for a third time and before it even said what the warning was for I knew it was for a tornado, there was no other options.  So I wake John up and he goes downstairs of course to look out the window.  I get my "tornado outfit" on and go downstairs.  I bet I looked ridiculous.  We found out the tornado was south of us and would miss us but I refused to take my outfit off until the warning expired.   But I felt ready and in control.  I am so glad John as so much patience with me when I look silly.  There I am in my whole outfit and there he is in glue to the window-the place you should not be.

Cinder slept through the entire thing thanks to the ace (sedative).  We tried to get her roused before we fell asleep and she was just like a rag doll that is how bad it knocked her out.  Even this morning she has trouble walking and is still really loopy.  We will definitely have to cut back the dosage even more the next time but at least it kept her calm through the storm.

Bottom line, I just want to be safe and I want my family to be safe.  And when we do have a tornado, we will be ready :).  At least I can still laugh at myself.  Right?