Friday 5 is one of my favorite ways to end the week! It's a link up with Emmy Mom and always fun.
1. So the biggie - Since August I've been playing around with 2 blogs. This one that focused on books (obviously) and another one that covered more personal stuff, makeup, clothes, food and that kind of stuff. The last month or so I was getting kind of bored with the personal one. While I love food, clothes and makeup I don't have anything original to offer and was kind of feeling stagnant. While that was happening I was finding myself enjoying the reading and reviewing more. So I took kind of an unplanned break from the personal one and was happier. I'll be adding some of the things I enjoy to the book one. This link up is one and also reviews of a few of the subscription boxes I get and probably a few other random things.
2. Emma got her license!!! She had an appointment in April but since it had rained that morning they wouldn't do road tests and we had to wait 4 weeks until she could get another appointment. Appointment day came and thankfully it didn't rain so she was able to take her test. So glad to have this taken care of and not have to worry about getting her and Paul to different workplaces at the same time anymore. 2 kids with driver's licenses 1 more to go and then I get a break until the Tornado is old enough!
3. Speaking of tornadoes we passed a big anniversary for our area on Sunday. On April 27, 2011 our area was devastated by 2 major tornadoes that came through - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. All 6 of us huddled in the closest under the stairs and listened to the roar as it went over our house. Luckily we only had minimal damage but many of our neighbors weren't so lucky. The school that the Tornado goes to was destroyed and actually just reopened this school year. Roads we've driven back and forth on for years were completely unrecognizable because everything was just gone. I've never seen anything like it. We were without power for about a week and since we fortunately have no issues that made this a problem it was kind of fun. We all camped out in the living room at night and spent most of the time outside. Being completely unconnected with everything else was kind of nice though I did discover that while I can go without air conditioning going without hot water makes me sad. I live in the city that the Weather channel calls the #1 worst city for tornadoes so I'm used to the sirens going off and the weather people running around looking very concerned but I've always been pretty cavalier about weather. When I was working and we had tornado warnings I was always outside trying to watch the storm. While the events of April 27th did make me terrified it definitely made me more cautious. It's hard to forget the sound of a tornado going over your house. So when the sky turned green and the sirens went off on April 28, 2014 we took it seriously. Luckily, it was a much smaller outbreak than we've previously seen. Unfortunately, while it did strike a much less populated area 2 lives were lost and a number of families lost their homes.
4. Onto a lighter subject, the end of school is coming. How can this semester have passed so quickly. The older kids aren't a big deal especially since one is driving! Not sure what I'm going to do about the Tornado. He has to have some structure otherwise he goes nuts and takes me along with him. We're doing a sports class once a week and I'm trying to think of more stuff. The library does a story time which I expect we'll be at pretty regularly and I also expect to see quite a bit of the local playgrounds but only first thing in the morning because metal slides aren't fun when it's 95 degrees!
5. Eleanor's semester is almost over which means she'll be coming home for a few months. I'm very curious to see how she does living at home after almost 10 months in a dorm. I imagine a non-group bathroom will be nice but she's also gotten used to making her own schedule more than she'll be able too than living with a house full of people. Still it will be nice to see her for awhile.
Across the street from our house Wednesday night at around 4PM. Not really supposed to be that dark!
This week's cupcakes - Peanuts in my Coke. Otherwise known as a chocolate cola cake with peanut butter frosting. The whole coke/peanut flavor combination isn't really something I'm familiar with. The cake's okay but the peanut butter frosting is amazing! If you need a light fluffy peanut butter frosting try this recipe from Sprinkle Bakes though I did cut the sugar down to 3 cups instead of 4.
Who every decided to put these little carts in grocery stores is either amazing or evil. I can never decide and it largely depends on the behavior of a certain little boy when he's allowed to get one!
Enjoying a picnic lunch at the Botanical Gardens yesterday.
Emma and Paul laughing during a lantern lit game of Apples to Apples 3 years ago during the April 27 tornado outbreak.
Yes, I have a love/hate relationship with those little shopping carts too. Glad the tornados passed you by this time. I grew up in Illinois and in 1990 my town was destroyed by an F5, so yea not much a fan of the green sky either.
ReplyDeleteI remember the first summer I came home after college, the first thing that I said to my parents was, I have been living on my own, setting my own curfew and so I am not going to have a curfew at home. I don't know if they would have tried to enforce one but I was not going to allow it ;)
Thank you so much for linking up!
There's one neighborhood near us that has been wiped out 3 times in the last 20 years. After the 3rd time most people didn't rebuild. Can't say I blame them!
DeleteWhen she came home for Christmas we didn't give her a curfew just told her to text if she was staying somewhere else for the night. We try and sell it as not so much rules but more being considerate of the people you share a house with which you have to do at any age. Hopefully that will continue to work!
Congratulations to your daughter Emma on getting her license! How exciting for her! I remember how happy my parents were when I got mine--they suddenly had a designated driver. LOL
ReplyDeleteI was so sorry to hear about the devastation caused by the tornadoes. The damage caused is horrible and when lives are lost it's even worse. I can't even imagine. We've had small tornadoes now and then where I live, but they so rarely last long or do much damage, fortunately.
I do hope things go smoothly for Elinor--and for you. I remember how different it was when I first came home after my first year away at college. My dad and I butted heads more than once, I remember. He had a hard time with his little girl growing up. It probably didn't help that I had a boyfriend at that point (now my husband). LOL
My daughter hasn't discovered the little shopping carts fortunately. She does, however, insist she ride in the pink race car shopping cart whenever we go to the grocery store. Her father always gives in and will search the lot for it. I'm not quite so accommodating.
I HATE those race car carts! They're a pain to use and then he jumps out of them constantly. The little carts are better but it's really just now (at 4) that's he's been able to use them and it work okay sometimes.
DeleteI'm thrilled to have her driving. Her schedule is crazy and I'm really glad it's no longer my problem!
Elinor being home was okay during Christmas (they got up a month off) we try to stress about being considerate to the people you live with versus these are the rules. I think it will still be strange for all of us! Also strange to think that this is Emma's last real summer. She'll be a senior next school year and the school she's planning on going to is 5 hours away. So pretty soon we'll have even more change!