Earthquake

So, I was on the phone with Kerry when she says, "Wait a minute.  My house is shaking."  "What?"  "My house is shaking!!"  Then I heard one of her boys call for her and I could hear the rumbling.  We realize she is having an earthquake.  I started to feel kind of dizzy as I was trying to google some info on what might have happened.

Then Madelyn comes downstairs.  Kerry and I hang up so she can check on her people and I see on FB that people all over the east coast were talking about feeling an earthquake; my cousin in VA, Jess in Reading, people in NY.  It was nuts!

I then realize that I wasn't feeling dizzy.  I was feeling an earthquake too when I was talking to Kerry!

Madelyn walks back in the room and says, "Elijah didn't feel anything."  I said, "Did you?"  She said, "Yes.  That's why I came downstairs.  I heard things rattle on my wall and the floor shook."  She actually thought Dan had come home.

Meanwhile, Dan was at work and didn't feel a thing.  Elijah said he heard things rattle on the wall, but that isn't so unusual around here because that happens when the trains go by.

Either way, we are all now able to say that we survived the earthquake of 2011.  Amen.

i think i got it ...

i have sat down so many times recently to write a blog post and then have completely blanked on what to write.  i have had so many things swimming around in my brain too, but when i went to write them down the words just would not come.

but, now i think i get it.  after elijah's tonsillectomy recovery which seemed to last forever and ever (poor boy) we had family come to visit which was really nice.  then we had an earthquake, a tropical storm, we lost power for a day and a half, our cars broke , uncle david died.  we needed to get to the funeral so we rented a car so we could get to dan's parents' house.  we stayed an extra day with his family then came home to find out dan's lawyer was trying to get in touch with him all day.  did i mention we are being sued?  our car broke down this week, the one we are trying to get rid of.  now our other car is getting fixed and our town is flooding from all the rain we have gotten this week.  madelyn went downstairs to watch a movie today and we found the basement had 4 inches of water throughout.  our basement which i have always been able to boast that it never gets wet.  what is that verse about boasting?  the nice firemen came to pump it out and soon after they left we realized it was flooding again.  huge bummer.

anyway, all that to say that at different times throughout all of these ordeals i have said that i am thankful that we are all healthy.  that is not something us tubbses are usually able to say, but lately it is and for that i am thankful. 

that's not all though.  tonight i realized that we have literally had almost all of our earthly possessions threatened in some way.over the last few weeks.  and you know what?  who cares?  seriously.  who cares?  it's just stuff. 


tonight before dan got home i was thinking about how he has to come home to deal with our basement after dealing with the school's flooded basement and all that we have been going through in the last few weeks and i thought, "i wouldn't want to go through all of this yuck with anyone but him."  we could  lose everything and be living in a box, but as long as we have each other and our kids are healthy we will be fine.  i think we are beginning to not even want all of this stuff.  ugh.  who needs it?  we have to throw so much stuff away from our basement now, but it almost feels freeing. 

the worst part is that the paneling on the wall has to come off and that is going to be a job and a half.  i'm not sure how that is going to go.  our basement is just going to be stripped bare.  that is craziness, but it's fine. 

so, all i am saying is, "God?  Are you there?  I get it now.  I know where my true treasures lie.  I am not clinging to my belongings or wishing/hoping for more stuff, more money, more car, or more house.  I'm done.  I am happy."  i really mean that too.  i have such a peace inside and it's a bit unsettling in some ways because it makes me wonder what God is preparing me for.  eek!  don't people say stuff like this before packing it all up and moving to china or something?  oh boy.  i better end it here.

dreams

holy moly. my dreams have been crazy lately.

last night i was shoe shopping at a really cool mall and i over heard a lady insult my outfit. i then realized i wearing cropped leggings with a mint green shirt that was longer in the back than the front and i came in barefoot hoping to find some cool shoes to wear through the mall. i left with a scarf and slippers.

then we went to a different part of the mall where outside the entrance to the arcade was a bunch of snow and a snowball machine that shot snowballs at you. it was crazy and a little dangerous because the machine went around in circles so you had to stay out of the way. i woke up after dan got hit and fell over. he was knocked out and i was trying to move him before the machine came around again.

after i fell back to sleep i dreamed i was hanging out with robert pattinson. he was filming some things. nice guy.

see? crazy.

the night before i dreamed about a friend we haven't heard from in a while and now i know why. he was with a new woman. i don't know where his wife was, but there was no introduction to the new woman. it was almost like he was pretending she was his wife. see? crazy. and that was only half of it. i can't even write the other part even though it was funny.

sometimes i am curious where my dreams come from. other times i would just like to forget them. i do know that the kids needs shoes for school. madelyn always looks cute in her legging outfits. i would not. i don't know about the snow machine except that dan has been going through some stressful things at work? and maybe that's where that was coming from? i don't know.

i should keep a dream journal. or, maybe not.

Tidbits

it turns out madelyn is a chatty cathy when she's in the kitchen baking with dan. super cute.

glad he's the baker and not me. i'm not a fan of baking. he is though which makes it a great daddy/kids activity :)

i am also glad that this isn't a regular activity since i would then weigh 300 lbs. seriously. that is ALL i would eat.

.........

pms is the pits. i think i do weigh 300 lbs just since last week. i am such an antisocial weepy munchy slug during this time. it's amazing how different you feel once it's all said and done.

tmi. i know.

........

i went running/walking again today finally. i did do the stepper the other day which is a nice alternative to when i can't get out of the house, but while the weather is nice i definitely want to be out as much as possible.

it was a gorgeous night tonight too, nice and cool. the sky was sooooooo pretty with the setting sun.

i've been looking forward to getting back into a routine since we've been back from vacation.

..........

i don't know what to call what i do when i exercise. i go back and forth between running and walking so should i call it ralking, runking, runalking, wunning? yeah. i think wunning is it. then i sound like i have a speech issue and people will think i am a runner. for some reason it seems more glamorous to be a runner. although there is a speed walker in our neighborhood who would put any runner to shame. she is tall and thin and i could never keep up with her even if i was running and she's probably old enough to be my mom.

ha ha! imagining me running to try to keep up with the super tall speed walker makes me laugh.

it's kind of like me trying to keep up with dan when we exercise together (or even simply walk, honestly), but thankfully he slows to my pace. he's nice like that.

.........

anxiety sucks.

i have a copy of my friends book "change your brain change your life." it's helpful.

but, ugh. anxiety is awful, awful, awful.

........

elijah LOVES legos right now.

currently he is online just looking at instructions for putting together sets that he doesn't have. sometimes he goes to bed reading the little instruction books :)

last night he asked me if it would be okay if he slept with some of his legos on the side of the bed he doesn't sleep on so he could wake up and get started on putting it all together right away. when i went to see just how many he was talking about i laughed. he had a MOUND of legos on his bed. so funny. he was a good sport about bagging them all up so none would get lost in the night.

.........

madelyn is going to the fair tomorrow with her bff alli. alli and her family are such a blessing. alli is an only child and loves to invite madelyn along for special events like this. they are such a great family too. it's so nice to have people you can completely trust your child with and whose daughter is such a nice friend to madelyn. even while we were on vacation madelyn would say, "i can't wait to tell alli about this" or "i can't wait to show alli this!" friends are the best.

.........

the erwins are coming on wednesday!!!! yay!!!! this has been the summer for catching up with our maryland friends :D it's been sooooooooooo nice i can hardly stand it!! i love and miss them all so much.

.........

laundry never ends .... BUT i am grateful for washing machines and dryers.

the end.

vacation

things i want to remember from vacation ...

elijah and hayes were super cute tonight on the beach wearing nothing but their undies. what made it even cuter is the fact that elijah accidently had a pair of hayes' undies on and vice versa so one was a little too big and the other a little too small, nothing but cuteness :)

madelyn and addie hold hands on a regular basis. they love each other so much. they wear whatever clothes and pjs they have that match. they are each other's sister that they don't have.

i got to see my julie b. after about 4 years. she has 3 kids now and the day was just too short frankly. i love her so much and our kids loved each other so much. saying good-bye to her again was sad because i know if we still lived close to each other we would still be good friends and our kids would play regularly. they were all really cute together. of course i kept forgetting my camera so i didn't get as many pictures as i wanted to.

the weather was gorgeous during our week at the beach.

we have a screened in porch at this house and my mom sat out there and read most days. we started calling it the library because one day nick said, "why doesn't your mom just get a week at the library each summer?" we all cracked up.

we got to see the wilsons twice this week too. that was fun.

elijah rode the swing ride and every time he would come around to where we were he was making a different face, had a different pose, etc. dan and i were cracking up :)

hayes was in a super naked stage and elijah was in a super modest stage so every time hayes would be somewhere naked elijah would quick cover his eyes and yell for hayes to get some clothes on. it didn't help that hayes was elijah's constant shadow so when elijah went to go potty hayes was close behind. poor elijah didn't get much alone time.

we were at my aunt's house for my mom's retirement party and hayes walks in the room and dumps his clothes on shannon's head. she was quite surprised to turn to see a naked hayes. apparently he was ready to go swimming again, but needed help with his suit.

i saw kerry twice in one week!!! what?? i did. so fun. we met at aunt elaine's to go swimming the one day and then she came up for my mom's party too. good times. good times indeed. what made it even better is she bought me a 31 bag for an early birthday gift :) i love it!

poor addie threw up the day they were supposed to leave. too much junk food the night before. sadly, hayes threw up last year on the day they were leaving. i hope this doesn't become some kind of weird tradition because it looks like shannon is next on that list. yikes. their flight got canceled so they ended up staying another night.

one night my kids and i went to ihop to eat. madelyn and i like the butter pecan syrup, but elijah likes the maple. i don't typically say "maple syrup," but i did that night. well, the next day he was so excited to tell addie that at ihop "i had maple syrup and you could actually taste the maples!" he wasn't sure what those were when we asked him :)

poor addie was sad to not be able to see simon and samson during her visit this time, and she's afraid they won't live through the year until her next visit. poor thing. apparently she and madelyn had a heart to heart concerning the kitties.

simon is actually doing really well now that he is on the meds. dan did a fabulous job of staying on top of that while i was away. even now that i am home he will still give simon his meds. it's sweet.

this was the first time i left molly for a whole week. she did okay i guess. but she was super clingy when i got her back. leaving the animals and making arrangements for them was a HUGE stresser this year. ugh. remind me that i said no more cats after these ones are gone, please.