Nothing new.

So I was informed that I had waited too long since my last blog. Really nothing is happening, but I don't want people to think that I've given up on the blog. So here goes...um...nothing new to report. I am actively looking for a job, but no luck yet. I have an interview set up for tomorrow, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I went and got my new drivers license today. The picture is horrible and they won't let you take it more than once. The woman barely let me stand still before she snapped the picture, so I look stupid. They don't give you the license right then, they give you a receipt with a black and white copy of your picture on it to hold onto until your real license arrives in the mail. Then I went to the County Treasurer's Office to try to register my car. It seems stupid because I'm pretty sure in Richmond they did everything at the DMV, but whatever! So I get to the office and they tell me that I have to have the bank fax them a copy of the title since they are the lienholder. Until they get that they can't help me and I can't contact the bank from there I have to do it from my phone. So I head back to the house and call the bank. They tell me that they don't accept requests over the phone and I have to fax them. SERIOUSLY?!!! I don't have a job how am I supposed to fax them? PLUS it will take 3 weeks to process the title request Hopefully I don't get pulled over for anything. So I do a quick fax request and head out to Office Depot to have the stupid thing faxed. Now I'm back at home sitting on my bed typing away on the computer. It's hot outside I don't want to go out there anymore. :>)

Birthday Celebration!

So for my birthday we went to a cabin at the lake with my dad, Angie, Jason and the kids. We were going to camp and go out on the boat to fish. I HATE fishing! Anyone who knows me has heard the stories about why I don't like to fish. For everyone else, it's because my dad has no patience with me and I'm not able to sit still and be quiet for long periods of time. Ok...I'm not capable of sitting still for 5 minutes without talking. The boat was HORRIBLE! We kept getting yelled at for stupid things and we just sat there being bored for hours! Finally my dad decided that the water was too choppy (well duh! I could've made that call hours earlier) and we were going to head back in. So he decides to open the boat up and run it across the lake. It was fun so I yelled Wahooo and he turned around and screamed at me to stop it. I was so pissed off that I couldn't even speak. I told Angie and Jason that I wasn't going back out the next day because I was too old to get screamed at for no good reason. It turns out that I never had to make that choice...

That night we grilled and had cheesecake to celebrate my birthday. We went to bed around 9pm to get lots of sleep so we could go out fishing again the next morning (ugh!) It started raining around the same time. At 10pm there's a banging on our door and all the grown ups jump out of bed and start putting on shoes before we even answer the door. The camp employee just told us what we had suspected - evacuate now tornado is coming! What a shocker. This is the 3rd one since we got here. So we try to wake up the kids and haul ass across the path to the storm shelter. Yeah, the storm shelter is the bathroom/showers. They smelled horrible and it was impossible to keep ourselves and the kids calm. As we are sitting there fearing for our lives and listening to the rain. Suddenly the rain stopped and the real panic started. We've been told since we got here that the rain stopping is a real bad sign. Angie, Jason and I looked at each other and gave the signal that we were gonna put the kids on the floor in the shower and we were going to huddle on top of them. Then we got lucky. The storm hit us, but the tornado didn't. Other people weren't so lucky, but we were grateful for our luck. All we had to do was suffer in a stinky bathroom for a few hours in the middle of the night. Trying to get the kids back to sleep after the scare was pretty difficult, but we managed it and then we got up first thing the next morning and headed to Dad's house. Next year for my birthday I'm gonna lay in bed all day eating cake and ice cream and watch movies. Anyone who wants to join me let me know!

HAUL ASS AND DON’T WORRY ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE WILL THINK!!!

Thursday night was the viewing and we were supposed to be there from 6-8 pm. As we are leaving the house my Aunt Roberta calls to tell us that we are under a tornado watch and nobody is sure if it’s safe to drive to where the viewing is. The town is about 45 minutes away and we decided to chance it. Now it’s important to note that Aunt Roberta refers to her husband, Matt, as the Weather Widget because he keeps track of weather conditions and would be a storm chaser if she would let him. So we get to Holton and are greeting people and doing the usual viewing stuff. Matt is sitting out in the car listening to the radio and I go out to check and see what he says. He says that things are looking bad and that we should consider heading home. So I go back inside to tell Angie and see what she thinks. At some point during my wanderings I learned that the funeral home does not have a basement and that if they sound the sirens we will be ushered into the casket room. WHAT?!!! Oh HELL NO! I have enough trouble with one casket I’m surely not going to go hang out in a room full of them while a storm rages outside. At this point I can say that we had some pretty inappropriate comments going around that if we didn’t make it they wouldn’t have to carry us very far. So wrong, but we’ve been so stressed that we just have no self control left at this point. So anyway, Angie and I both go back outside to talk to Matt and he says that there are tornadoes on the ground in some areas and that we are getting boxed in by the weather so if we’re gonna go home we have to go right now. Well, that’s when the Keystone Cops routine starts. We pretty much go back inside and gather up the rest of the crew and we tell the people there to offer their condolences that we’re afraid for our lives and are gonna leave! Once we gave the “round up and roll out” order we were on the road within a few minutes (after shepherding mom physically out of the bathroom and in to a waiting vehicle!) The whole way home amidst the panic we keep busting out the “wicked witch” music and trying to keep the kids calm. It was just such a strange thing and we hope that people won’t think too badly of us for leaving.

Thankfully we beat the storm and were home before it got started. The really stupid thing is that then Angie, Jason and I are standing on the porch watching the storm roll through. The lightning was awesome and luckily we didn't get any tornadoes. The weather for the funeral was nice though, so that's good.

MY GRANDMA

During the road trip I learned that my grandma had been moved to a hospice facility and that I would probably not get to Kansas before she passed away. This was very difficult because she had been in poor health for a while and I had mixed feelings. I knew she would be going to a better place, but I wanted her to stay with us. My mom drove up from Texas and arrived in Kansas a few hours after I did, but I was unpacking my car and attempting to straighten out my back while she drove in to town and went straight to visit grandma. My niece had a baseball game (which I skipped because I was broke ass tired) and then we went to visit grandma when she got home. I didn’t want to go over by myself because I had no idea where the place was and really didn’t want to get lost. We stayed for a few hours that night and then went home for some sleep and a shower in the morning. I spent Sunday and most of Monday going back and forth between the house and the hospice facility to keep Mom and my Aunt Roberta company. Grandma had not been awake since some time Thursday, so it was mainly a bedside vigil so she wouldn’t be alone if she did wake up. Monday night Darcy and I had gone home and mom called to tell us that things had gotten worse and that we needed to get back up there. So we went and sat with Mom and Berta and waited for Grandpa and Aunt Patti to show up. While we were waiting we decided to sing some of grandma’s favorite church hymns, but we were having a terrible time with the words (terrible sinners that we are!) Luckily, I found a hymnal book in the bench of the grand piano they had in one of the common areas and we solved that problem. I'm not sure if Grandma was glad or pissed that I found it because we had almost given up on the singing at that point. I don't think we were too off key, but what do I know... When the rest of the family and the Chaplain arrived we gathered to say a prayer and grandma passed away during the prayer. It was such a strange and perfect way for it to happen.

THE ROAD TRIP - SATURDAY

So I woke up around 5am again, and decided that I would just get my day started. So I jumped in the shower, but was so petrified of something bad happening that I could not really enjoy the hot water or the feeling of being clean for the first time since Thursday night. I showered with the curtain partially open so I could keep an eye out for murderers and washed so quickly that it seemed like they were charging for water by the minute. Then I dressed at top speed just to get out in the hallway. Thinking back it seems stupid because I had 3 locks on the door and the hallway was probably less safe, but being irrational is never logical! When I checked out at the front desk the guy warned me to drive carefully because the storm that had dropped tornadoes in Kansas was headed through and I was going to have to go through it. That concerned me, but I decided to brave it. After a quick stop at the gas station, I was on the road again (key the music…) About 20 minutes later I hit the storm and it took me about 45 minutes or so to drive through it. I was getting passed a lot, but I slowed down a lot because I didn’t want to wreck. Especially since I got multiple speeches the night before about not killing myself on the road trip since we would probably have to have a funeral not long after I arrived in Kansas. So I heeded the advice of my family and friends and took my time. The only snag the whole trip was that Mapquest didn’t list the connection in Louisville for me to stay on I-64. I only lost a total of about 10 minutes though, because I recognized almost immediately that I was not headed in the right direction, got off the highway, checked my road atlas and corrected my course. I was pretty proud of myself, but Mapquest needs to update their stuff to show that you can’t just stay on I-64, you have to get on I-65 to connect with I-64 on the other side of town. But whatever…so my road companions didn't harass me too much about getting lost and I allowed them to get outof the car to have their picture taken at a rest stop in Indiana. Pictures will be posted later. Other than that I hit a little bit of rain coming through Kansas City and arrived no worse for wear.

THE ROAD TRIP - FRIDAY

The first day on the road was pretty uneventful; I was delayed in setting off by the movers, but was on the road by noon. I had my Ipod playing in the car for a few hours and then let the XM radio entertain me. I also spent a considerable amount of time talking to my travel companions who happened to fit perfectly into my treasure box that Dana made for me. I actually took a picture of them with the sign in Indiana at one of the rest stops! See day 2 of the road trip. Driving through the mountains was beautiful, but the cell phone reception was bad. I spent most of the day on the phone with family members because my grandma was ill and had been moved to a hospice facility. I considered driving straight through, because I didn’t think I would get to Kansas in time, but I decided that I was too tired and would probably drive off the road if I tried it. So I stopped in Mount Sterling(um...I think) at a Ramada Inn around 8 pm because I didn’t think I could travel any further. After talking to Angie, Mom, Dad and Brent to reassure them that I wasn’t being stupid and driving through the night I brushed my teeth and crawled into bed. Then the funniest part of my trip happened. Around 2:40 Saturday morning my cell phone rang. My initial thought was that my grandma had passed away, but the caller ID confirmed it was a friend (name will not be mentioned to protect the innocent/guilty). So anyway I answer the phone and receive a drunken “Hey, what are you doing?” Basically I respond that I’m sleeping and get questioned about why I’m sleeping and aren’t I supposed to be driving. Well the exact conversation is fuzzy, but the gist of it is I’m alone in my hotel room laughing hysterically in the middle of the night. After explaining that I’m in a hotel and several rounds of “I’m sorry, I should let you get some sleep” and then continued talking, I finally hang up the phone and snuggle back under the covers. But then the hilarity of the situation hits me and I’m laughing again. I know my next door neighbors were wondering what the hell was going on. That phone call is probably my favorite part of the whole trip! It’s nice to know that people are thinking about me and concerned for my well being even in the middle of the night.

MOVING DAY

So the movers are supposed to show up between 8 am and 10 am and I figured it’d be closer to 10. I woke up at 5am too excited to sleep and decided to load my car and clean up the apartment as best I could. That done, I proceeded to lay on my loveseat and talk to Angie while waiting for the movers. They got to my apartment around 9:20 and I was so excited because I figured it would take them maybe an hour and I’d be able to get on the road. NOT SO MUCH!!! They proceeded to move at a snails pace and I felt like poking them with an electric cattle prod. I have never seen two people do so little for such a long period of time. At 11:45 one of the two guys went to sit down on the loveseat and I had just had all I was going to take. So I looked at him and said “oh no no no, what are you doing?” His response was that he was going to take a 5 minute break so I told him there was no time for that and I had to turn my keys in by noon. So then they got mouthy with me and said something about me not mentioning that before and I just snapped! I told him that since they had gotten there before 9:30 I had NEVER assumed it would be an issue. I was so fried by that point I could barely be civil. I did my best, and they finished up what they needed to do and got the hell out! Technically I didn’t have to turn my keys in by noon, but I didn’t want to be hanging around until dinner time. So after a quick stop at the office to drop off the keys I was on the road.

SECRETARY FOR HIRE

So the last day of my job was so difficult for me. I tried so hard to just not think about leaving, but it made me sad the whole day. The thought of not seeing the people I love spending time with every day made me miserable. Not to mention the stack of work that I wanted to get done before leaving. I got the most amazing gift from my friends though, and it was useful and very thoughtful. They collected money to help me pay for gas on my road trip. I can’t even say how grateful I am for their help, especially with gas prices going through the roof. Bern and Jo Ann also helped me name the penguins that I would be taking on the road trip with me. The larger penguin is named Pixie Jo and the little one is Fluffy Mae. Kaia, the puppy that has been sitting at my desk for the last few years, will also be making the road trip with me.

Now if they could just find me a job in Topeka…