The storm

It's been a very long 72 hours. On Wednesday, I never expected that I'd still be dealing with the storm that I watched on the news from 4:00 to 9:30. My tizzy began at about 3:30 on Wednesday as I drove home from school listening to the radio tell me to "Take cover immediately!!" as I sat in traffic. From that moment forward, I was distressed. 

I got home and was glued to the tv as I watched the green, purple, and white blobs move across the weather map towards me. I was a bit nervous you could say, as I told the girls that we needed to prepare the basement in case we needed it later (even though none of the storms all day had hit us yet). We decided that the corner under the kitchen would be best because it was surrounded by dirt walls and furthest away from big trees.

The big storm that got us.

I freaked a little lot. 

I hate our basement. It is dirty and leaks and there are bugs everywhere. There is a bunch of junk down there and we pretty much avoid it at all costs. But that night, it was my best friend. I kept telling the girls, "It's not that bad! Let's go down there! It's exciting!" (I used every tactic I could to get them down there with me.) The scare tactic worked on Lindsey, and the exciting tactic worked on Mary. Laura was up for whatever. 

At 8:15, we turned the tv as loud as it could go and went to the basement for the storm. The hail was HUGE and incredibly loud. The wind was loud, and we huddled together on the comfy soaking wet blankets. I closed my eyes and had a pillow over my head. (Dramatic?) Anyways, we were okay, and we went back upstairs after it subsided to watch the news more. 

Next storm was at about 8:45 and it looked terrible. I forced everyone into the basement onto our soaking wet, muddy blankets. We lit our candle and waited. It got really scary and we heard a loud boom that seemed to shake the floors, then our power went out. Mary said it was a tree but I said it couldn't be because it wasn't loud enough. We came out of the dungeon about 20 minutes later and I got mad at Mary for opening the front door (what if she got blown down by the wind?) until we saw THE tree. On HER car... and maybe my car. We stayed on the porch because I yelled at anyone who tried to step off in case of power lines that had popped. 

The morning after as Delaney headed to class.

The tree was massive. And it took down two other large trees with it, along with the power lines. 

After that, I had kind of a what-do-we-do-now feeling. No power, no car, no tv for news. We called and told mom and dad. Dad jumped in the car and came up and I was not very happy about him driving through the storms that were still coming. I made us go into the basement a couple more times and we brought pretzels with us to make it more homey, and I took 3 advil for my sudden throbbing headache. 

The back window of Mary's car. The brake light fell off.

My poor car.

Dad assessed the damage and we discovered that the tree was more on my car than on Mary's, but both were damaged. The limbs were in hers, the trunk on mine. We went to sleep at 1:30 AM only to awaken at 5 AM to men's voices outside. The city workers came to clear the tree! (Yay!) Dad helped us move our cars away from the tree, and he drove Mary's home with no back window or sunroof... Or door knob. He got home, got a trailer and headed back up to get mine on a trailer :(. It made some freaky noises as we drove it onto the trailer. Dad drove away in Aunt Janie's truck, with my car on back, and I drove away in his massive, "Big bad truck," as we call it. 

Goodbye to my sweet, sorry car.

Mary and I have shared the truck ever since. We are very thankful for the truck, but we both talk about how nervous we get to drive it on these narrow, curvy roads. Plus, it has really good, very sensitive and slightly dangerous pick-up that can make you (Mary) end up in the middle of intersections when you were just trying to inch up to the line. (We almost 3 wrecked cars in one day.)

Anyways, I have felt discombobulated for the past days since the event. I didn't realize how dependent I was on my car and electricity. I can't do anything without power. Being home alone without power is especially boring. 

Today I have read the entire Wall Street Journal. I also stared at the wall for a while. Then the power workers showed up and (this might be weird) I watched them work on the lines. It's better than watching the wall.

My car won't be fixed for a long time, or maybe never. We don't know if it's totaled or fixable. I liked that car a lot and I'd like to have it back, but either way will be okay. I'm glad because a car is replaceable. I just think it's nice to have a car at this point! And comparatively, it's nice to have a house and my health. So I'll be positive! It's much better that way. I have a lot to be thankful for....

Especially scenes like this in my front yard:

The Storm

Knoxville, especially around campus, got destroyed by the storm yesterday evening.

I don't ever remember a storm being this bad.

I took a few pictures but they are nothing compared to some of the trees I saw that had fallen on houses and cars. 

We were just about the only people I know who kept power the whole night.

Our trusty yellow house held up!

I'm going to knock on wood... More storms are coming today and tonight!

We have so many sweets.

SO MANY!

It's mostly my candy, but I'm willing to share, though I'd love to eat it all myself,

for fear  I will gain 35 pounds.

Anyways, I had a great Easter day. 

Church was fun. We went back to our old church with the family. It was nice and brought back lots of memories. It was packed, and Mary and I couldn't sit with the family. Then we headed to Uncle Happy's house for Easter lunch. It was the first one in a while that everyone has been there, so we had to get a picture.

I feel bad for blocking Uncle Wade. Sorry! 

We were pretty creative with the positioning, weren't we? 

It looks almost professional, but it was just Mamaw (G-dad's girlfriend).

We had our traditional Easter egg hunt with money in the eggs. 

I was really excited because I have no money right now. Like none. Zilch. Zero. 

I got money from babysitting and I haven't had money in so long that it was gone within the week. So, at any rate, I was in dire need for this money.

 When the parents said go! I ran intensely to find eggs, and I thought I had so many that I slowed down on stealing eggs from the little children. Our family gets competitive when it comes to money in the eggs. Well... when time came to open the eggs, all of mine were filled with candy.

As usual, I got just about the lowest amount of money, besides Mary Ann who is pregnant.

Mary got $74.

And I got $6. 

This is real life. Not a joke.

The difference there is $68.

I am laughing at my luck.

Anyways, I haven't spent my $6 yet, and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.

#4 at McDonald's?

Cheap-ish nail polish? 

Earrings from Forever 21?

The choices are endless! 

And I'm reminded that Easter isn't about money or candy, even though it is fun.

It's about Jesus.

Easter Colors

I'm enjoying my weekend at home relaxing. It has felt like summertime! 

We had some adorably rowdy kids in the yard all day.

Playing with them always brings back memories of how much fun I had in the same yard with cousins my age.

We were always barefooted. 

Just like today. 

We usually had some form of wheels.

Just like they did today.

We always had some kind of farm animal for entertainment.

Just like they did today.

I had a fun childhood... I miss it. 

The good thing is, I can relive it every time I come home.

It's pretty much the same as it's always been around here. 

And I like that.

So anyways, it's been an awesome weekend with amazing weather.  

As you can see, I got to take a few colorful snapshots with my mother's camera.

I got to hang out with some little cousins and some big cousins as well.

I looked for jobs online last night with the help of my parents.

We made fish tacos for dinner and then walked at the school.

Currently, I am in bed about to go to sleep for the big day tomorrow...

Easter! 

(Both of those were sitting in our kitchen all day. I thought the comparison was interesting... Especially after looking inside the latter one.)

Those are the real thing.

Straight from the Easter bunny's rear.

Anyways, I am excited for Easter day celebrations.

I am so thankful for the cross and for the fact that... 

HE IS RISEN! 

Cold!

Cold, cold, go away. 

Come again another day never. 

I mean this in two ways...

The sneezing, runny nose, sore throat way.

And the why-did-I-wear-shorts-today way. 

I guess I'll just have to sound like a man tomorrow morning in my presentation. Oh well! 

It's my teacher who just takes 5 points off of every grade no matter what you do so that everyone doesn't get 100's. So voice, or no voice, I'll get a 35/40. Guaranteed! 

Note: I'm not sure if I have a cold or allergies. Everyone who had allergies, had them last week and I didn't, and not many people are still sick this week. So it's kind of weird. Plus I don't remember having allergies ever before in Knoxville. I can't figure it out. But, I can figure out that I'm tired and I want to go to sleep... right.... NOW! 

A few strangers told me I looked cold tonight at dinner. The first time, I thought that was an odd thing to say. The second time, I thought I need to relax my shoulders or do something different. The third time, I thought gosh, I just need to go home and get in bed. Geoffrey told me it was just because I look sick. Was that supposed to make it any better? :)

So what do you think, do I look cold?

That was just for laughs, taken by me on my phone a few minutes ago.

I'll regret putting it up tomorrow morning. This Tylenol Cold might be getting to my head right now.

I'm going to bed now. Hope this post made sense.

6 things going on in my life

I have 6 things to share with you today about my life as of April 11, 2011.

1. Things like this beautiful bush in my front yard are killing me.

My throat has been itching like crazy and I want to scratch it so badly.

I daydream about water bottles filled with small shards of glass in the water so that it will scratch my throat on the way down. If I actually tried that, the daydreams might turn to nightmares, but as of now, it's sounding pretty darn good.

2. I skinned my knee like a first grader. I tripped over something in Geoffrey's room... and boom! I was on the floor. I took this picture in my last class. The people behind me probably thought I was a freak. They probably think I'm a freak right now (in my current class) since I'm posting this.

Who knew carpet could do that?

3. Along the lines of gross pictures, this is also just about the one year anniversary of my sprained ankle from roller skating. 

That bulge-like thing hurt!

I'm happy to report though, that it no longer hurts. 

 4. I also want to congratulate Geoffrey for his first speeding ticket.

Welcome to the club!

It's about time he had one. 

21 and never pulled over... That's unheard of where I come from.

As I blogged in January: 

"I want to document the fact that I am the only person in my family that did not get pulled over or get a ticket in the year 2010.  Mom and Mary both got speeding tickets on trips to Florida, Dad got pulled over with no ticket but he also got a camera ticket for speeding, and Laura got pulled over but no ticket.  I better knock on wood."

Again, I better knock on wood.

5.  Mary just texted me and told me that our neighbor's house got broken into today while they were at work. I'm so thankful that it was not our house. I would probably be moving out. But she said that one car was at their house and they left one door unlocked. SO that means that we have to be extra special careful to lock our doors even when we're here during the day... Because if a car is here and we are here, they could still come in. Yikes!  And I guess we also should not answer the door if someone knocks? It's scary! I've been very sheltered as far as break-ins go, and I just can't believe someone would break into a house with a car home. And, someone was probably at our house and the houses next door since a lot of them are business.  We have business people who walk down our road all the time on breaks, so it's strange that a criminal would want to break in around here. Anyways, to say the least, I'm now nervous to be home alone, even in the daytime! I'm a scaredy cat. I'm sure you knew that already.

6. I have a lot going on this week. 2 projects, an exam, 2 papers, and then for Monday--2 presentations, 3 papers, and an exam (all on one day). So I'm working hard this week, or at least I'm acting like it! 

Yum!

Lots on my mind tonight... 

But my favorite thing is this:

Miss Deb, Geo's mom, had these waiting on my bed when I got to Nashville.

Just like Easter morning, but better (as far as surprises go). 

How did she know what I liked?

I think I made it pretty easy! (Scroll down)

I had a nice time in Nashville this weekend with Geo and his sweet parents...

And now I'm eating Cadbury eggs alone. I hate the end of weekends.