Tuesday, January 8

What a wild night!

And it all started weeks ago when I couldn't find a couple books I wanted at the library....

No sweat. I signed up for their handy library loan program and my library got them from a different location and placed them in my pretty little hands. I was slap happy. I had stacks of Christmas books in my library basket! When I didn't make it back to the city to return the books, I went online and renewed things. No problem! Unfortunately, a few weeks later, I received a letter telling me that the two library loan books were past due and if they were not returned immediately, I would owe $120.00 each.

!%#(@

I checked on line and those books didn't show up on my renew list...apparently you can't renew ILL books. AND, since those books had me past their limit, I could no longer renew the other 50 books I had now past due. My fees quickly racked up to $30.00 before I was able to take the books back....last night. So now you understand...I was desperate to get these books OUT OF MY HOUSE. I hired a sitter and left with my mom to drive an hour away to return library books.

It felt like a great night to do it. Last Monday was 9 degrees. This Monday neared 70 degrees! Warm air, cold air...getting a feel for it here? We hit one store before hitting the library. While shopping, my sweet dh called to check on me and let me know that there was a tornado heading North, but it was to the West of us and we'd be fine. I shopped on. A few minutes later, my mom ran up and said we had to go because there was a tornado headed our way - it shifted to North-East. I still wasn't feeling overly worried. My aunt was nearby and had a basement. We'd head there and be fine. But the radio said it was turning Eastward and that meant my family was in line. Then I was worried.

We stopped in and visited my wonderful Aunt and her family. I love those people! Turns out, it was my Uncle's birthday and we joined them for dinner and cake while the storm passed. It turned out the storm wasn't heading East. My family was fine. We planned to tackle the library as soon as it all passed over. Nope. Another one came and another one came and another one came.....The storms were backed up to Texas! We saw about a 10 minute break before the next one hit, so we took it and headed home....with my library books.

There were at least half a dozen tornadoes spotted last night. But it was all north of us, so we slept soundly.

Until 3:30 a.m. when my Grandma called to warn us there was a tornado heading toward our town. We got up and turned on the news...."10 more minutes and it will hit 'our town'"..... we gathered up the kids and hunkered down in a closet. Half an hour later, it hadn't hit, but we had enjoyed many rounds of "Fried Ham, fried ham...", a great camp song. We listened to a rough storm pass over us and a little girl whining that she wanted to go back to bed, and a Mama whining that we really need to clean this closet out, and a little boy whining that a hard drive was poking him in the back. Chris checked the news and we looked clear-ish, so we all piled onto the bed together....except Chris who stood guard over his family, watching the news in case danger tried to approach.

Good thing, because there wasn't any room in the bed anyway.

I had to sleep with my arms raised above my head so I could fit. It was just an hour until I had to wake up, but the kids wouldn't go to sleep if one of us wasn't with them, so I stayed and snuggled.

And so I'm up. Still wearing yesterday's makeup. And blogging to wake up.

6 comments:

Jennie C. said...

what a night....

Casa De Galletti said...

I am so glad that we are 200 miles south of the end of Tornado Alley! Glad that it all missed y'all.

andie said...

Goodness! I'm relieved that you're safe and sound.

Do you go to this library because it's nicer than a closer one, or is it the closest?

Jenni said...

Ugh. I've had bad library experiences and tornado experiences. Well, not *real*, almost got sucked up in it tornado experiences, but crouched in the basement wishing the men would get off the porch and down here with the rest of the sane people experiences.

Jenn said...

Thanks, all!

Andie, we have a library in town, but it's not great for homeschooling resources. This is the nearest library. And it's totally worth it....if you are a responsible grown-up.

Jenni - I hear ya! When I was still in the city thinking my kiddos were safe at home, I was totally willing to stand on the porch and look for something worth photographing. But no camera and my mom was with me and she would have killed me if I even suggested it. But yeah: Tornado warning goes off and moms are in the basement while dads are on the porch.

Christy said...

Wow...

Fried Ham, Fried ham huh? Laura Grace needs to learn that one I am sure. Just another song to torture me with...

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