Greetings and Happy Labor Day!! Isn’t it SO nice to have a three day weekend?! As a stay at home mom most of my days are pretty much the same, but words can’t describe how nice it is to have Chris home to help and just be here!
WOW! What a weekend it has been! Chris had to go out of town at the last minute on Friday (pretty much…anything with less than a weeks warning for me is last minute!). He was only gone for the day…flew to Kansas bright and early Friday morning and got home just after 11:00 that night. That makes for one long day…and that doesn’t even count the fact that he went without sleep once again the night before that.
Anyway…it is no secret that I LOVE a good old fashioned thunderstorm! We have had some major lightning storms this summer and I have loved every minute of it!! I must admit that I am quite disappointed when all we get is dust and lightning! I love the rain and the freshness it brings. However, I do NOT like storms where it seems as though the lightning is striking in our back yard and we end up with a shattered window.
Chris had JUST gotten home Friday night when mass chaos erupted! The kids and I had all fallen asleep in our bed and I woke up just before 11:00 and carried Huntler over to his room. It was then that I noticed that a storm was close because the lightning was blindingly bright and the thunder was extremely loud. Anyway, I got Huntler in bed just as the doorbell rang and Chris got home. (He rode with someone and rang the bell so I could shut off the alarm to let him in.)
So, I let Chris in and we both head back upstairs where he changes clothes and I start brushing my teeth. By this time I am realizing that the storm is REALLY close. Just as I started taking out my contacts the wind picked up and it started raining. I didn’t even get both contacts out before it was storming like crazy. In the midst of this lightning strikes REALLY close and Gentry (who woke up when Chris got home) freaks out. Not crying, screaming freaking out but scared to death, clinging to Daddy, trembling, freaking out.
So I get my contact case put away and head to the bedroom to try to look out. The shade was down so I was getting ready to lift it up when Chris tells me to get away from the window. It was raining REALLY hard, hailing, and stuff was hitting the house and flying around because of the crazy winds. I obviously was not thinking!! So, Chris and Gentry head back down the hall toward the bathroom and I went to check on Huntler…who slept through this entire ordeal!! Anyway, as I was coming back from his room I heard this horrible noise.
Chris didn’t hear it because of the continuous thunder that was sounding off and the fact that he was back in the bathroom and too far away, but headed down to check things out. His words to me…”Oh, this is really bad.”
Yeah…so we turn on the lights and surveyed the damage. Glass EVERYWHERE. All over the floor, an end table and our furniture. Not good!! At first we thought the wind or hail caused it to shatter, but once Chris started cleaning up, he found the culprit! It was a little copper tiki light that we used as a centerpiece on our patio table. Once we saw what had happened outside, it is no surprise that this thing ended up inside!!
Our patio table (which seats 6 and is pretty big) was scooted across the patio. The chairs were blown all over and mangled together. Our large propane heater was laying on its side in a bent up mess. The kids’ little plastic picnic table was on the side of the house, along with one of my flip flops and a piece of the other centerpiece. The craziest part to me though is that our big, heavy, city issued trash can was picked up from our back yard and thrown over a nearly 6 foot fence and ended up on its side in our driveway. Now THAT is some wind!! There must have been some kind of microburst or something that caused all of this.
So, while all of this is a pain, we are SO grateful that we didn’t lose power in the desert in the 100 degree heat. It could have been MUCH worse!! And every house down here has cinder block fences in the back yard…we are thankful that ours is still in one piece!! (Some people are not so fortunate.)
The one thing that concerns me most from this entire experience is the fact that our alarm did not go off when the copper bucket came flying through the window. If some burglar were to throw the equivalent of a small brick through our window, that alarm system better sound off!! So, there has been some adjusting of the sensitivity on the sensors and now I am more confident!! Seems kinda crazy because we have set it off numerous times by closing the trash can lid too hard or when one of the kids runs into the door too hard!! Anyway, we are good to go now!!
So…there is that story. I am heading to the model homes tomorrow to find out who they use to install the windows and get that going. Right now we are boarded up with plywood.
Ahhh…on a much happier note, Huntler’s train invites are coming along SO cute!! I couldn’t be happier with them!!
That little picture I showed yesterday was in fact wheels!! I did the same thing on some custom invites I made awhile back and they were SO cute that I decided to do the same thing for the trains.
And the cotter pins you might be wondering? Why engine brakes of course! Huntler knew what they were right away!!
I obviously still have some work to do such as adding his picture and the party information, but that shouldn’t take too long!! I LOVE how they are coming along and am so glad that I took the hard route and made them train shaped!!
And here are a couple more shots of the lil’ engineer himself!! I still haven’t decided which picture I am using for his invitations…that is on today’s to do list!!
On the Etsy front, I did get a couple of things listed, but got really frustrated with my internet connection and gave up. It lost two of my listings and then got hung up on another and I had had enough! So, I will add stuff at my own pace. I had planned to list several things today, but it just takes time. I know I deleted a post that talked about this same thing, but where do people find the time to do all of this?!! I can’t seem to get there just yet!! Maybe someday!! For now, I’ll put stuff in when I can but am not going to stress out about it!
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by Bethany
Oh Wow! I am so glad you guys are okay!
This is Sonja from your workshop!
I love the train invites…I might need your help as I am working on Parker’s. You are so creative!
So glad everyone is safe and you’re not letting the hassle of home repair and the fear of the “what if’s” outweigh your gratefulness that the outcome wasn’t any worse. There’s always a silver lining in the darkest of clouds.
As for the invites – all I can say is “OH MY!” You continue to outdo yourself (and everyone else also.) Your attention to detail and your ability to hand fashion the vision you see in your mind is indeed a rare gift and talent. VERY, VERY cute! Can’t wait to see the finished product.
Love, Grandma Debbie
WOW!! That storm sounds crazy! I’m so glad you and your family are safe, and that the damage wasn’t TOO severe. On another note, I wanted to tell you that I think it’s fabulous that you’re able to find the good in all of this!
Also, the train invites are SOOOO cute! Great idea! And your lil engineer is adorable too!
What a crazy storm…so glad everyone there is safe. Good luck with the window
The invites are looking adorable! Can’t wait to see them finished!
Now, I need to go browse your Etsy shop! I don’t know how people do it either! I could use a few more hours in the day!!!