So my dream takes us back to my childhood home, or rather – my childhood street, where my mom still lives. I suppose we were back home for the summer – as we usually are, but, were not able to this year. I say this, because, it was totally present-day, present-time. I mean, like – now, now. Kind of weird for it to have been so current. Or, maybe not. I don’t know. Are most dreams not right now?

I’m a bit foggy, as I’ve got a stinkin’ migraine today. They kind of give me pregnant-brain. If you’ve ever felt that, you know exactly what I experience. My kids say I’m this dingy all the time, but, this is actually worse than my usual dingy. Scary thought. Ha.

[Dingy. Hmm - I want to say spacey, you know? But spelled like that it looks like the dirty kind of dingy. Maybe they're spelled the same. Who knows.]

The dream starts with my walking up La Manga, going east, from Querida. So I wind up walking past about what’s supposed to be about 8 or 10 houses. Only – they’re no longer houses. And on the left side of the street, my elementary school is also no longer there. Why are these houses and this school not there? They’ve been blown to smithereens by a tornado.

There is still ‘stuff’ there, just like it was out here in Alabama, but, the school does NOT look like a school and the houses do NOT look like houses. It’s really hard to accurately describe, and if you don’t live in Joplin or out here in AL, I’m sure you saw it on the news. Maybe it’s just so difficult to put it into words, because, it is so shocking. I don’t know. But like – the woods don’t look like the woods anymore. So otherworldly, really. It’s strange.

And that’s how La Manga looked – (not that we have woods. lol.) for about eight or so houses. I think it was from the Dorfmeisters’ house (who in this dream were really the first house on the block, not the second, like in real life) to maybe the Vardillos’ house or the Mamots’ house. And of course, Bowie Elementary looked like that, too.

So I walked down the length of the destruction and then somehow wound up in the alley and was making my way back to our house. I got there to the backyard and I realized the dogs had been home alone during the storm. In real life, my mom has four dogs. In the dream she had five or six. I was so sad, thinking the dogs must have all been killed. But then Buddy showed up. I was so happy to see him!

Then another dog showed up. I guess the little guy represented my mom’s real dog, Randy, but he was a little different in the dream. Different coloring and such. Anyway, I was really happy to see him, too – I was thrilled that two of them had survived. That seemed like such a miracle.

Then I was in the backyard, just feeling the horrible devastation of it all and hanging out with the dogs. I guess we were all comforting each other. And then POOF! In an instant, the backyard was completely normal, I heard my mom’s car pull up in the driveway. My mom, my dad, my brother, Mic all came into the backyard. They were happy, cheerful, and totally excited.

Apparently we were celebrating my birthday – which I thought was really weird since it was my dad’s birthday and mine was two months ago. (And that’s how I know it was current time, because yesterday really was my dad’s birthday.)

And they are all seeing right past my gut-wrenching feelings of devastation. I’m trying to make them understand.

“Everything was gone, you guys, don’t you see?” and they’re just not getting it. Dang, was it ever strange. To them it was a wonderful, beautiful and happy day. And three minutes earlier, it was dark, dreary, and devastating. It was super creepy.

And more than a little mind-numbing to see your childhood home and your elementary school …just ….gone.

Dude. Those poor kids. Three elementary schools in Tuscaloosa were hit. Like – demolished. Ugh. I mean, I felt for them before, but….

I feel so stupid. I’ve tried not to mention this to anyone, for fear that I’d be acting selfish. But it seems the stupid, horrible storms are haunting even me. All we got was some roof damage on the house and some roof damage on the shed. Of course, the yard and street were a mess, but, we just barely got touched.

That’s more than I can say for less than ten miles from here. (I live right by Webster’s Chapel, one of the hard-hit areas.) Heavy duty stuff. More than ‘heavy duty’….spellbinding. Jaw-dropping. Nauseating.

I knew I was somewhat affected, but, I thought it was just in terms of my migraines. See, I had gotten to a really freaking good place with them just before the storms. Let me explain, I think I’ve mentioned here before that I’m bipolar. And one of the drugs that I take for the ‘UP’ side of my bipolar, the mania, is an anti-convulsant. That drug has been, in the last few years, also prescribed for migraines. So my doc ok’d me to take extras on headache days. And sometimes …okay, a lot – I get stuck taking extra many, many days in a row. It seems once those buggers come, they’re just not too keen on leaving.

So, anyway, before the storms, I was really working on it and had NOT. TAKEN. EXTRA. for 11 days!!! I was really excited! It was so cool!

But 9 times out of 10, tornado warning days bring on migraines. And April 27th was no sweet, little kitten, that’s for sure! So, of course, I took extra. And here it is July 17th and I’m still trying to work my way down. I’ll just about get there – or get there for 2 or 3 days – and then WHAMMO! A new one comes!

[Here's a little sidenote funny: The gifted kids at school were supposed to go to the Renaissance Faire in Georgia that day and that obviously got canceled. Shawn thought that I should go ahead and drive them! Silly boy! He was upset that Mom was acting all 'storm-crazy' again. Sheesh!]

So I know I’ve been pissed off at the storms for effing up my good no-migraine-run and stuff, but, I just didn’t realize how emotionally affected I’ve been. And really, I feel silly saying that.

I got pretty damn depressed – lower than I’ve been in a long time – for all of May and June. I really thought it must have been about not getting to go to Texas and meet my new niece. OMG, ya’ll! She’s so amazing and adorable!! I can’t wait to meet her.

This is the first year since moving out here that we haven’t been able to go home for a chunk of the summer. One thing after another getting in our way for that to happen.

And I imagine that was a big part of it. But now, after the dream I had last night, I’m pretty sure it was the storms, too. And I’m just going to go ahead and admit it. Feeling my pain or my fear or my shock is not going to take away from the people who lost their homes or their loved ones. I think the storms probably affected all of us in ways maybe we’re not sure of. And denying it is really not helping anyone.

So there. I said it. The storms freaked me the HELL OUT!

I know for sure, that I have not enjoyed a storm since. Not like I used to. In the last week, there have been some rainy days I’ve liked. And there have been some beautiful dark clouds I’ve liked. So I’m coming around – and may one day return to my excited armchair-storm-chaser-self. But when it comes to the storms themselves and all their accompanying noise that rattles inside your ribcage, I get that sick feeling in the pit of my stomach when I hear them kicking up. (See – I used to love that rattle in my ribcage. Exciting stuff. I blame the movie “Twister” – well, and growing up with tornado warnings.)

But – I can’t even imagine what it’s like for the people who lost so much.

God bless them!

This post, however, is over 600 words. So I will have to tell you the dream in another post. Stay tuned!

Now I know my friends up north are looking at our pitiful snow on the ground with the grass sticking up through it and laughing! But we really enjoyed it – probably much in the same way that you would get a kick out of wearing shorts on Christmas!

We were actually lucky enough to have snow on three separate days this year, which was really great, because, last year we didn’t have any at all. And last year was our first year out here, having moved from Texas, and back home (last year) they got snow several times. It was just one more thing for me, as a mother, to feel guilty about. Every time the phone rang, and we were excitedly informed by a relative back home that they had snow, the kids glared at me! Rotten, I tell ya, they’re just rotten!

Well, the Universe came through for me this year and here is our little video with some of our snowy activities!

We really only had one of those days that was worthy of ‘playing in the snow’, but, we enjoyed the heck out of it! And the timing was just right, too! It started snowing right as the kids were all getting out of school, so they played in it until just after dark. We had hoped that they’d get school called off the next day, but, no such luck. It was all gone by the next morning. I’m sure the teachers had to deal with a bunch of grumpy, ornery, hyped up, tired kids the next day. I bet it felt to them like the day after Halloween. Poor teachers.

It was really hard to get decent shots of the little monsters, because, for some reason, they just weren’t in the mood for pictures! I did my best, though…

And there’s a very old house across the street from us – it was built in 1840. And it looked so amazing that day!

That’s right, folks – you heard it here first! That is, of course, unless you’ve been watching the Alabama news. You haven’t, have you? Well, we are under a tornado watch until 6pm. Tornado watch? A few days after Christmas? That is so weird. And it has been in effect all day. That is a long tornado watch, too. My poor little outdoor Christmas tree keeps getting knocked over on the balcony. I need some little tray doohickey to put underneath it so that I can bring it in. Or there is going to be a sailing Christmas tree pretty soon! First the kids look up and see Santa’s sleigh flying through the air, then they wait a few days and see a Christmas tree sailing through the air! Ha!

Yesterday morning, I just happened to glance out the front windows while the kids were getting ready for school. And what I saw was so beautiful, that I immediately ran and got my camera! I called for the kids to come and see. The funny thing was, Patrick was actually looking at the clouds out back, that looked amazing in their own right! He said that they were streaked and they looked really cool. By the time I got out back, though, after snapping some pics out front, the clouds had moved on. Oh well – at least I got to see the amazing beauty out front! Here is what I saw:The pictures don’t really do it justice – it was so beautiful! The ‘nature’ of this place really serves my spirit well when I am missing my flat concrete jungle and the people I left there.

We had a rather exciting, wildlife morning the other day while getting the kids ready for school. It started out when I was in the kitchen alone, before the kids got out of bed. I was standing in front of one counter, and I heard something in another counter on the other side of the kitchen. It sounded a bit like plastic hitting plastic. But you know how when you’re alone, and you’re lost in thought, and then you just barely catch this noise, over the drone of your thoughts? So I sort of second-guessed myself about hearing it.

And then Shawn had come into the kitchen, and he is standing in the same place I had been standing, when I first heard the noise. He is preparing his breakfast, and I am sitting at my desk – and we both hear this scratching noise. I didn’t look up, because, I just assumed it was something Shawn was doing. And then he says, “Mom – did you hear that?” And I sorta freaked a little bit, “Omg, yeah, but, I thought you were doing it!” He told me it hadn’t been him, and that it came from ‘that cabinet over there’ – the same one in which I’d heard noises twenty minutes earlier! Yeeeks!

Shawn and I bravely go over to said cabinet and slowly, ever so cautiously, open it up

- AND JUMP BACK!

But there was nothing in there, nothing, that is, but, some pots and pans. So I figure the little guy must be behind the oven. Mark is unconvinced, and we haven’t heard anything since. Shawn and I know what we heard, though! And hell, there are deer across the street – we can watch them from the balcony – we are a lot more rural than Garland, TX – so it wouldn’t be shocking at all. And heck, plenty of people in Dallas get rats in their pools/houses/garages. It just wouldn’t be surprising. But I guess Shawn and myself and our bravado scared him off!

Getting back to our wildlife morning, though – this was one of those mornings that I had to drive them to school. Somebody wakes up late, and that knocks back the whole schedule for everyone, since they all want a turn in their bathroom. And plus that puts them bumping into each other in the kitchen. Staggered awakenings are really a good thing – especially when they work! So, anyway, we get in the car – and the whole thing – ON THE INSIDE – is covered in ants!!! The freakiest part about it is that on the dashboard, there is a swarm of them POURING out of the vents! It looks like some 1970′s horror flick! And if you’re a kid of the 70′s, that’s a freaky thing – scarin’ your inner child and all, you know?

It was nuts, totally nuts, but we wiped away the ants that we could (though they continued to spout out those vents, the rotten buggers) and went on our freaked out, paranoid way.

And not too long before this, Mark and Patrick were vacuuming the basement, and when they moved the big chair – they found one of these guys:

The North American millipede – living in the room that is serving as my living room! That’s living room for people, dude! Not millipedes – now hit it! Sure, they’re not all that dangerous, but, they can do this to you:

OUCH!! And to top it off, later that day, I joyfully discovered that these crazy people I call my family had ‘saved’ him in a little tupperware bucket! Yikes. I don’t know about you, but, to me, there is just something creepy about those things!

And a few days later, they were asking me to show someone the little guy, so I popped off that tupperware lid – Little did I know one of their defense mechanisms is a horrible smell. (And it is horrible!) And I guess when they die, out comes the smell. It was so bad, just lifting that little lid for a second, that the whole kitchen STUNK! We had to open the windows and light a candle!

So that’s a little bit of our wildlife life – just wait till I tell you about the ticks!

Uh, yeah. Seriously. Sammie came home today, “Momma – they were passing out Bibles at school today! Some man came and gave us all Bibles!”

And she was pretty excited. And it’s a cool pocket-sized one. Which, I think is neat. And she was happy that she could keep it in her backpack. And that’s all good.

But damn, ya’ll! Bibles – with Jesus in them – at P.U.B.L.I.C. school!

And on home-game-Fridays, people from local Baptist and Methodist churches come and feed the kids free biscuits and gravy before school. Patrick knew they did that, but, didn’t know who was providing them. You know how informative male creatures can be, especially those in the throes of teenage hormone-dom! So I looked it up on the school website, to find out it was from these churches.

And when the boys came home, I asked them, “Did they preach at ya’ll?” (I know I should probably say ‘to you’, but, I’m a little miffed, ok?!)

And Patrick said, “No, but, people could go up to the podium and pray if they wanted to. You know, pray to win the game.”

It irritates me so much, I almost don’t even want to admit that Jesus is in my heart. I feel like kicking the government-ignoring, separation-of-church-and-state-defying, long-haired dude right out of my heart!

Ok, I know, this is not Jesus’ doing. These are the actions of humans. Humans who have apparently not joined us in the 21st century.

It is so wrong on so many levels.

Miffed. I’m definitely miffed.

I’m just gonna sit here miffed for a while, why don’t you go read this:
Separation of Church and State – at Wikipedia

I finally downloaded my camera software to this new machine. Well, really – new hard drive, but, it sure feels like a new machine to me! And so, anyway, I would like to share some things with you now about our journey to Little River Canyon, in the far northeast of Alabama.

One of the first things that I noticed when we got there, was the newfangled trash cans! Oh my, but, they were cool! Check them out:

Now, look closer at them! There is literally no access to them for any creatures other than humans!

You have to stick your hand in that little sticky-up part (yep, that’s a technical term) and push in a button inside there and then lift the lid up to the right. It’s actually kind of a tricky operation at first, when you’re getting used to it – I actually almost pinched my fingers pretty badly once!

And then – guess what? They recycle! Or provide canisters for you to, actually! In every spot that there is a trash can, there is one of these recycling sorters! How cool is that? And I mean, these are everywhere – we traveled the whole 20-30 mile scenic road that runs alongside the canyon, stopping at almost every scenic overlook, and there they were! I wonder what kind of dork that makes me? Scenic overlooks and I’m excited to see trash cans? Hmm….

And then they had these crazy things on the ground outside the bathrooms at the swimming area. Sammie and I wondered what they were. I said, “Could they possibly be some type of storm shelters?” They do look like doors!

But nope, nothing could be further from the truth! They are so not storm shelters! It is a way of cleaning the ‘water’ that comes from the bathrooms so that the river is protected. I can’t for the life of me remember what it was called and I’ve been looking and looking on the website and can’t find it. It is some word that you usually hear about gardening, though. I might try to remember to call them up tomorrow and ask them. I was a little confused, anyway, if that meant, ‘extra’ cleaning – or if that was the whole enchilada. So I shall dig around some more and report back to you on this one!

Remember this sweet little girl I told you about before? Well, she and my momma came to visit us in May! Lucy had a great time while she was here – she was just loved all UP by myself and the kids! (No, not Mark. He doesn’t do the small dog thing. Whatev.)

The day before they left to go back home to Texas, taking my three children with them, Lucy was playing in the clover at my house. Doesn’t she look pretty?

She is so precious!! I know you all love her just as much as I do! Well, anyway – this picture was taken probably right before the poor little thing jumped up in the air like a crazy little Chihuahua! Oh yes, she is a Chihuahua! So, my mom just got in the van with her and went off with Mark and the boys for some sightseeing. I get a call a short bit later, though. Something is wrong. Lucy is acting funny and they are bringing her home. She was crying the whole time in the car.

They bring her home and the poor baby has a stinger in her foot! You know how the bees love that clover! And that crazy jump? Well, yeah, that was probably the moment of deadly impact. (Ok, ok, just for the bee – but, didn’t it sound good and dramatic?)

Anyway, we got the stinger out and Mom left Lucy home with Sammie and I so we could nursemaid her while they went on with their sightseeing. Lucy was sad and a bit whiny the rest of the day, but, by that night – she was totally fine!

Thank goodness – I was so worried about her because she’s so darn small! But she’s a little toughie, that one!

I miss her little ornery self!

P.S. When she’s good and ornery – we call her ‘Lucifer’!

That’s where we’re headed today – Little River Falls Canyon. And it’s been touted as ‘The Grand Canyon of the South’. And from all that we’ve read and heard, it is beautiful. You can read about it, and see more pictures, here: Little River Canyon National Preserve

Sure looks pretty, huh? Ok, I know, it’s no Colorado, but, it’s still very pretty and I’m sure we’ll have a great time! I just hope I don’t get carsick with all of the driving and all of the winding roads!
Oh, and speaking of Colorado, I’ve a rather funny email to share with you. I keep meaning to do that – lemme see if I can sneak that in right quick before the old guy gets up and starts hollerin’ at me – “Are you ready yet? C’mon! We gotta go!”