We Survived

April 11th, 2008

it passed us by.

but before it did, we spent more than enough time in the bathroom trying to not kill each other.  and the storm presented itself just prior to everyone’s naptime. oh.my.goodness.  good thing my honey wasn’t there to record us this time.  i finally gave up in the middle of the second round of storms and came out of the bathroom.  come hail or high water.  quite literally.  i was through.  i said a prayer, asked God to take care of us, and emerged into the rest of the house.  i could take no more children or dog crying, whining, flipping around, and fussing.  i resolved to watch the weather closely and grab kids if i needed.  and then promptly put the boys on the gamecube, put my daughter in her bed, turned loose my toddler (who’d been sleeping in the ergo) and sat down at the computer to decompress. 

one of the things i was not prepared for was not having daddy to help us.  hello.  normally these storms have come through in the evenings and he watches the storm and listens to the location and lets us know when to come out and what’s going on.  i just sit in the bathroom attempting to entertain the masses and calm their fears.  but, as i mentioned yesterday i had to be the johnny on the spot, and that meant i had to monitor the storm and be the entertainer.  i discovered i’m not good at reading The Stinky Cheese Man, listening to see if the storm is really touching down 2 miles away, corralling a dog, handing out snacks, soothing an over-tired toddler attached to my chest, looking at everything my second child is showing me, dealing with my too-concerned oldest and keeping my cool.  not good at it, is an understatement.  there might’ve been some yelling. 

so, all the preparing and best laid plans of well-meaning mamas are still subject to real life.  welcome to reality.

Getting Ready For A Storm

April 10th, 2008

otherwise known as “batton down the hatches.”

disclaimer:  there will be some joking, because, well, i’m an idiot.  but in all seriousness, this is a pretty serious storm.  and it’s hitting places that have already been hit pretty hard.  please, please, please pray for us and all the people in the path of this storm.

• first of all, go to NOAA, enter your zip code and see what your warnings are.  this is cutting out the middle man.  your local stations get some of their info here.
• we’ve known this storm is coming for a couple of days now, so i started prepping then.  i have lots of ready to eat foods (we’re in an area notorious for losing electricity and we’re not in an area that’s high priority to get back on quickly.)  lunch meats, i baked some crescent rolls this morning to keep for later, we have pb&j at the ready, some snacky foods, fruit, and tuna fish – nothing that will need microwaving or the stove.  we used to have gas heating and i took for granted hot showers and cooking abilities in an outage.
• we’re on high ground, so flooding is not really a concern for us.  i did ask my huz last night if there was any concern of the dam breaking here and he said, if it did, he thinks we’re on the other side of it.  so we will not have a scene like the one in “o, brother where are thou!”
• i will dress the children, including shoes, in just a little bit.
• the dog leash will be with us.
• i’ve located the matches, candles, flashlights.
• we have an emergency radio that tells warnings.  that is out and on.
• in just a little while we’ll make the bathroom look like this.
• we have several read-alouds ready and some ideas for playing games in the dark.
• we’re all clean, we showered last night so that we wouldn’t have filthy kids and then wonder what to do about hot water if the electricity goes out.
• and, obviously, it’s of utmost importance to get in any blogging while i do all this.  i’m fully aware i’m a fool.

it sounds as if i’m a panicky person in storms.  and really i’m not.  i love a storm.  i used to stand on the porch with my honey and watch ‘em roll in.  i loved it.  but now i have a bunch of kiddos.  and that changed the game just a bit.  i’m still not scared, but i have to be prepared.  especially when my honey’s at work and i’m the johnny on the spot.

so, i thought i’d share what we do around here.  y’all that have already been through the storm – how are ya?

(as i type – the warning radio is going off.  i better fix that bathroom and grab some books and snacks.  argh.)

and those that have yet to go through it – we’re prayin’ for ya. 

Menu Plan and Update to Cooking Day

April 4th, 2008

i have lots of ideas.  but some of ‘em don’t pan out so well.  okay, most of ‘em.  because, as we all know, what sounds good on paper sometimes doesn’t translate well in real life.  so here’s where we are in our real life.

cooking day:  the trial run worked out really well.  we’re down to the very bottom of the food barrel.  it’s been 3 1/2 weeks since i went on the huge shopping trip.  i’ve supplemented with 2 mini grocery shopping trips (for fruits, veggies, and a few insta-foods, oh, and a bunch of sweets, what can i say?) at $63.00 for one and $19.00 for the second.  we have eaten out a couple times – especially for my honey’s lunches.  but that’s gonna just be a fact of life for us.  and that’s alright.  we’re planning another huge trip for tomorrow (guess i better start figurin’ out what we’re gonna eat this time around!).  here’s what we had and how it worked.  if you want some of the recipes comment and let me know.

• lots of deli sandwiches
• white chili
• breaded chicken sandwiches
• southern meat and potatoes
• ham and egg sandwiches
• egg casserole
• chinese dinner – this was a huge hit
• parmesan chicken
• mexican chicken
• tacos and bean burritos
• ravioli – regular(not outta the can) and toasted and fried mozzarella sticks – also a huge hit
• chicken enchiladas
• hamburgers
• homemade pizza – not a hit at all – i can’t get the crust right – any suggestions on this?
• lemon garlic pork loin – argh – i planned several meals off this one.  i left it on the stove to cool after just one helping and daisy-the-cat got to it – into the trash went a whole pork loin.  no cats were harmed in this, except in my imagination.
• turkey smoked sausage – kids LOVE this one
• pancakes
• french toast
• tuna fish
• twice baked potatoes

lots of bacon, breakfast sausage, toast with butter or jelly or both, pb&j’s, green beans, great northern beans, corn, carrots, apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, cereal – we don’t eat a lot of this – it’s on my hate list:  too much money, the kids don’t really eat a lot of it anyway, makes a HUGE mess with all my little ones, don’t feel like it’s very nutritious.  however, if it’s something i like i can put away a box at a sitting - another reason to not have it in the house. 

leftovers and insta(box or frozen)foods filled in the gaps, we just can’t bring ourselves to drop our frozen pizzas.  we’re frozen pizza freaks.  we also love us some frozen chicken pot pies – all of us - right down to the baby.