ONLY IN OKLAHOMA!

NOTE: There is a video in this post that I cannot stop from automatically playing plus it has a commercial before the actual video and it repeats over and over! If you know how to fix this let me know or I will erase it tomorrow because it is driving me nuts! You may have to restart it when you get to it or until then be annoyed ~ sorry.

Only in Oklahoma where the winds come sweeping down the plains....

can the weather go from ICY one week..............

.........to 70° for a few days to 40° for a few more then back to the 70° with high winds and pouring rains THEN.................

{{I had a video here of the tornadoes that hit Oklahoma this past week and the damage from them however I could NOT remove the autostart feature so I deleted it!}}

Now as those families and the families in two other Oklahoma towns clean up what is left behind we are back to 70° BUT tomorrow in good old Oklahoma fashion it will be in the 40s once again! Early for a tornado and 70° weather but if you live here you know to expect the unexpected as far as weather is concerned. I have also learned after growing up here that a mobile home isn't the safest home to have when you live in tornado alley. Plus all of these weather changes wreak havoc on Oklahoma allergy sufferers, like me!

IT SNOWED.....WELL OKIE KIND OF SNOW!!

If you've read this post, then you know that Isaiah hates snow and ice; however, he has been wanting it to snow for months so he can finally build his first snowman. In fact there has been many times he made my Mom go buy carrots for a snowman nose because it looked like it might snow! I would not fall for this 3 yr old child's meteorology knowledge ;however, my Mom does each and every time ~ sucker! Well as I mentioned a few thousand times last week we had an ice storm. Schools were closed Tuesday through Thursday ~ ugh! Tuesday evening I decided to go try and find Isaiah some snow boots to help him walk around on the ice when low and behold it was snowing. Now granted it was NOT the fluffy, white, good-packin', snowman-makin' snow BUT hey it was snow.....on top of ice, sleet, more ice, even more ice then a small layer of snow, then you guessed it more ice. When we get lots of ice, the boys get confused upon seeing it because our yard will look like it has snowed but once they go out in it they quickly realize once again that Mommy was right (really I don't know why they ever even doubt me!) and they are disappointed. No such luck finding boots his size so I rushed home, ran in the house to tell the boys it was snowing. Isaiah was asleep on Daddy's lap and I said, "Zay wake up! Do you want to go play in the snow?" We had to laugh because he popped right up all wide-eyed and ready to go! I layered him like you would NOT believe. I did NOT want him to get cold while playing and refuse to go out in the ice again since it would take awhile for all of our ice to melt! Let's see he had on longjohns, sweats, Elijah's old snowsuit, a jacket, a coat, gloves, three hats and his trusty full of holes crocs that he loves (hey I warned him!)........he couldn't move BUT HEY he wouldn't freak out in the cold either!!! It was comical watching him walk like a little penguin!! Elijah bundled up but we had to use my socks since his gloves were gone...imagine that!

This was my first sight ~ Isaiah down........

which immediately reminded me of this scene from 2 yrs ago.......

after this Isaiah refused to walk OUTDOORS for two weeks until EVERY TINY REMNANT of snow was melted!! THIS YEAR, Thank God, he just popped up and said, "Don't worry Momma! I not scared of the snow NOW!" Woohoo, good for you because I can't carry you anymore AND walk on ice!

Time for Elijah's favorite ~ snow angels

I can't believe Zay actually did it ~ his very FIRST snow angel!

Then they played and played and played....

....not sure why they laid on their stomachs in it but hey........

THEY ARE HAVING FUN!

Isaiah trying to throw a snow ball at me!
I told him to eat snow and he liked it! He kept eating it until I made him stop because......

Samson got suited up to join in the fun although I am not so sure this was HIS idea of fun!

Elijah ran to the bathroom to do his normal soaking of his cold hands in water when I went in to check I found this! Elijah warming up his hands and Isaiah sitting on the counter warming up his feet! Guess his feet were plenty wet from the crocs HE wanted to wear!

WRITER'S WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY: MR. PLOWMAN!

For this week's Writer's Workshop Wednesday I chose ~ write a letter to someone who bothered you this week! Not sure if this is allowed but I kind of switched it to a song that I have been singing and creating all day! I'm telling ya'll I'm sick in the head...hehe!

First of all it goes to the tune of Mr. Sandman.....you know the one.....Mr.Sandman, bring me a dream, make him the cutest that I've ever seen.....ok I will wait as you catch the tune and get your vocals ready...


.....still waiting because I know some of ya'll are googling to get the tune because when you had kids they sucked the brains and memory clear out of your head like they did mine! Why do you think I stopped with kid number 2? Besides ya'll know you originally started blogging so you wouldn't forget all the crazy cute things your kids do!.....




....ready, let's go.....


Mr. Plowman, we need to talk (bum bum bum bum)
I need a break so let's take a walk (bum bum bum bum)
Your plowing maaaaiiinn streets the sun melted (bum bum bum bum)
The cars behind you are getting pelted.
Plowman, I'm not alone
The Okie Mommss don't want to stay home
Please plow the right streets
Mr. Plowman we need to meet!


(bum bum bum bum bum........)



Mr. Plowman, YOU don't get it
I've had more fun just pinching my zits
The kids are bored, restless and fighty
The cabin fever symptoms are so mighty
Plowman, I'm not alone
The Okie Mommss don't want to stay home
Pleeeease plow the right streets
Mr. Plowman, we need to meet!



(bum bum bum bum bum........)



Mr. Plowman, (male voice: "Yessss!") us Mom's are real coollllll
but our ki-ids need back in school
The maaaaiinn streets are clear of all icy
so do the streets by homes it would be nicey
Sandman, please plow the bus routes (plow the bus routes)
Before the Okie Moms go on the outs
We'rrree going o-nn day three
Mr. Plowman plow them, please please please
Mr. Plowman plow the right streets!



Rough I know! I only changed it a kazillion times while singing the madness today after I saw the plows going down clear main roads and received a call cancelling school tomorrow yet AGAIN due to unclear bus routes! Not bitter! Not bitter at all I tell you!

For more Writer's Workshop Wednesday posts go to

and join in the madness!

JUST ANOTHER MANIC MID-WEEK DAY!

I get a call from a friend tonight whom I haven't talked to in a little while. She says, "How was your day?" Not sure if she really wanted to know but this was my answer!!

This is how my day has gone.....

8:30am ~ Dad calls telling me he won't be in today because he went to the ER last night and he has two kidney stones. This means more than likely he will NOT be making his Aunt's funeral or pickup up my Grandma to take her to Iowa for her sister's funeral. What now?

9:00am ~ While getting out of the shower, I hear Isaiah having a coughing fit. I go to check on him wrapped up in my nifty new Sexy Mama towel Momacita Cleta made me when low and behold he coughs, gags then vomits on my feet! Nice! He doesn't have the flu or anything like that he just does this if he gets any cough AT ALL! I think he has my easily triggered gag reflex!

9:15am ~ Done with shower #2

9:20am ~ Mom calls to tell me about Dad going to the ER not knowing he already called. She wants to know if I will stop by his doctor's office to pick up his medicines. Ok what is one more stop for Dad!

10:00am ~ We are finally in the car and on our way!

10:40am ~ FINALLY leaving the doctor's office! I thought I was going to go postal in there, seriously! First I had to wait in the line with 5 people in front of me. Going pretty fast until the man directly in front of me had a NEVER. ENDING. STORY. I thought I was going to rip my hair out! This man kept asking the same question over and over and over again and without fail the receptionist kept saying I don't know sir you will have to ask him when you see him. He kept saying, "Well is he going to do it!" Same cookie cutter response. "Well is he going to do it!" Again same cookie cutter response! Man....GET. A. CLUE. she does not know!! I thought for a minute maybe he needed a quick slap on the back of the head because he had a one track mind or something was stuck up in there! FINALLY THEY GET TO ME! No meds! No prescriptions! I then begin to wonder if I had misunderstood Mom and was supposed to go to the pharmacy but now the blind receptionist just missed his prescriptions ON THE TOP OF THE PILE THREE TIMES!! Call Dad to see if he wants me to drop off the scripts for Mom to P/U or just wait for them! Just wait! Great!

10:45am ~ The pharmacy says it is a 30 minute wait if I "drop off" the script in the drive thru but only a 10 to 15 minute wait if I come inside. OK well that was a no brainer! I unload the boys, go into the pharmacy to shop around while we wait!

11:00am ~ Still waiting!

11:15am ~ Still waiting and getting impatient!

11:35am ~ It's finally go time! We waited not 10 minutes, not 15 minutes, not even 30 minutes BUT A WHOPPING 45 MINUTES! DUDE I SO ABOUT LOST ALL MY MARBLES IN THERE!!

12:00pm ~ On my way to work I decided to call my friend to see if she had left her house since Monday. She does NOT leave her house until ALL ice is gone and refuses to emerge to drive AT ALL until then. I was calling to check on her....well ok more like make fun of her when all of the sudden A LARGE LINE OF ICE from the power line above my car FALLS ONTO MY WINDSHIELD! I screamed and think I peed a little which she thought was absolutely hilarious and said it was God teaching me to be nice! Not funny, not funny at all! I am finally at work! Woohoo the excitement is almost unbearable!

2:00pm ~ Went to Taco Bell. More ice failing from power lines onto my windshield which means more pee and more screaming. Dude it makes you want to scream "the sky is falling, the sky is falling" and hop out of the car until you realize you would look like a complete moron and that would totally undermine the whole "I am woman hear me roar" mantra! I might need to carry clean underwear in my car from now on!

NOTE TO OKLA DRIVERS: Do not stop directly under any stop lights or power lines at traffic stops when the ice begins to melt. The ice will fall on your car and can cause temporary loss of bladder control! No loss of bowel control has been reported but it could be likely! You've been warned!

4:02pm ~ I got a rather cryptic email from fellow BA blogger Georgie telling me school is cancelled again tomorrow. I thought surely it was just a sick joke and laughed it off!

4:05pm ~ My sister calls to tell me her husband has been rushed to emergency surgery to have his gallbladder removed at 3:40pm

4:25 pm ~ My phone rings again and blinking "BA Schools" knowing it was the automated telecast school cancellation message, I cringed but answered only to find out Georgie's email was in fact correct and school is cancelled again tomorrow! UGH! This prompted my Writer's Workshop post I will be doing when I am finished with this one!

4:45pm ~ Feeling bad for my sister waiting in the family surgical waiting room alone I decide to go sit with her. This was quite a tough decision for me since on Oct. 7, 2008 her husband left her and the kids. My thoughts went like so

1. My sister is alone! Although estranged from her husband, the father of her youngest boy, she still desperately wants to work it out with the giant sized loser and I know she is a bundle of nerves.
2. Although I under no circumstances wanted to see him, I did have visions of him in a drug induced state and me kicking some sense into his big 'ol butt. This would probably be my one and only chance to fight him AND win!! Oh how nice it would be for him not to be able to talk back~!!

5:00pm ~ I arrive at the hospital and convince my sister to walk up to EOPC to see a certain special little girl in the blogger community. Guess who I say this evening? My sister thought I was nuts and would come off as stalkerish but after telling her HARPER's story and about all the gifts and visitors she has already had then she was on board. We thought we would never find her through the medical supply and blind covered windows but low and behold we found her. They were holding her for the first time and we just cried. Mommy was grinning ear to ear with teary eyes while Daddy was taking pictures a million pictures with his giant camera. No joke guys they have a whopper of a camera! Then the nurse handed her a bottle so she could feed her for the first time and we cried even more. I wanted so badly to wave or knock on the window but there was NO way on God's green Earth I was going to interrupt their long awaited moment. I can't imagine waiting that long to hold and feed my baby and the last thing I would want is some blogger bangin' on the window! lol I could barely see Harper but when I could she was a beauty. She is so big and cute! I wish I could have met the Stamps but it was not about me after all just that sweet little baby and her parents. I could not wait to get home to see all the new pictures I knew would soon be up!

7:30pm ~ I call Hubs to tell him I am leaving the hospital and will be home shortly when he says, "Can you stop and get some food?" meaning he has yet to feed our children.

8:00pm ~ Get home, feed family nutritious fast food, begin cleaning house and doing laundry with a blogger check now and then! OOOOhhh and they have tonight's pictures of Harper up so you must go see her!

NOW I have kids in bed and onto my obsession.........oh blogger how I love thee!

THE BEAUTY OF IT ALL AND A BATHROOM RUN!

I have to tell you I HATE ICE STORMS and if you read my blog at all you already know this!

HOWEVER

I love the look of a yard or field of completely untouched snow or ice!

Not stepped in, urinated on or driven through just completely untouched!

It is beautiful!

In fact this morning at about 1:30 am I was sliding out to the car to retrieve something and I was in awe at the beauty.

The next thing I love about ice/snow is that even though it was 1:30 in the morning it looked like it was evening just before the sun goes down.

I could see everything!

I just stood there admiring the beauty of it all and was wondering about how light it was when I noticed the sky....

......was completely white.

No dark! No stars! Just white.....

Was it the reflection off the snow and ice?

Complete cloud cover?

Or moisture in the air?

Nonetheless I was in awe then quickly realized my feet were freezing and I REALLY had to pee!

Awe over and into the warmth of my home!

WORDFUL WEDNESDAY: ICE ICE BABY!!

Attention: WW readers several pics and definitely WORD FULL but good!

Sunday evening Chai went with me to Wally World on a little grocery run only to discovery they were out of almost everything either of us needed. It was ridiculous how bare the shelves were. I wondered if yet again I had made it there on the 1st when the state issues food stamps but alas I had not. We noticed at the front of the store that they had ice melt, shovels and ice scrapers and immediately said to each other is this storm supposed to be worse than we originally heard or is everyone panicked the ice storm from 13 months ago is again headed our way.

WOW!

It brought up so many memories.

You can't begin to imagine how wierd it is to be in your town with no power.

Not just a block or two but the whole town.

Wally World ~ closed!

Quik Trip ~ closed!

Gas stations ~ closed!

Target ~ closed!

Grocery stores ~ closed!

Banks ~ closed!

No stop lights, no street lights and no where to buy the necessities!

Then when Wally World finally opened they had nothing! NO candles! No gas heaters! Not much food! ALL stores had to discard refrigerated/freezer items which meant NO milk, dairy....you couldn't even buy hot dogs for petes sake....how was I supposed to feed the boys....LOL.....OK seriously!

The storm severity was completely unexpected!

YES we knew we were getting ice but not enough ice to SNAP power poles!!

We were out of firewood and you just don't realize how cold the house can get without any heat source except body heat...ooh lala...~ well at least we didn't! ALL the stores had hundreds of people waiting to buy generators before they could make it off the trucks!

Yes it was nice to finally get firewood, snuggle on the couch with the boys to do puzzles, play board games and read books by candlelight

FOR THE FIRST 8 HOURS OF THE FIRST DAY BUT THEN I WAS DONE!

I am not a non-electricity living girl!

I couldn't even go to work to escape because there was no electricity which also meant NO income!!

No school to send the kids to and even after the schools had power they couldn't have school because they had to clean the kitchen from the melted frozen foods and totally restock their kitchens.

It was unreal the damage done to Oklahoma and the other parts of the midwest struck by the storm. Ancient trees split in half and reduced to nothing by the shear weight of ice ~ I never imagined the damage ice could do! The storm debris pickup from the Dec 2007 storm did not get finished until June 2008....maybe it was July.....anyway THAT gives you some idea of how many trees GREEN COUNTRY lost!!

WHY can't we just get some snow?

I am so sick of ICE here everytime we get wintery weather!!

Some people were without electricity for over a month and crews came from all over the US to help restore power to our communities.

I LOVE THOSE GUYS AND I LOVE ME SOME ELECTRICITY!!

I totally appreciate street lights and stop lights because I quickly learned there are hundreds of people out there that have NO CLUE what to do at a four way stop!!

SO NEEDLESS TO SAY I don't think we were the only ones freaking out because the store was empty on the grocery side.

Fast forward 13 months to NOW.....

YES we are having a bad ice storm, yes the kids will be out of school for the second day today and yes many things have been closing in fact I had to go to 3 gas stations this morning before I found one with gas BUT we still have power because I am posting this!!!

I have to admit I panicked at the mere thought of not getting to be on blogger for a few days!!!

Sad but very very true! Here are a few pictures from our Dec 2007 Ice Storm:

This is the view from the street looking into our yard! Our house was completely hidden!

I thought I might cry at the thought of losing our Magnolia tree in the front yard especially since it is the only tree on our property that I even like!

Isaiah's car was covered in "stuck" water as the boys put it!!

How about that chair.....obviously we were using it as lawn furniture at the time! LOLOLOLOLHow cool is it that our basketball goal froze in the "swoosh" position!!

What can I say we've got it like that and the net is so used to that position from all MY swoosing!! Stop laughing I am so serious!!

Look how thick the ice is on the little berry lookin' things!

I didn't want to say they are berries then get comments telling me how stupid I am because I really don't know what in the world they are, I just love the picture!

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Come on! You know you want to!!

MY DEC 9TH PHOTO

Remembering back to one year ago today when the ice storm hit Oklahoma and left the state stranded without power and the devastation the ice left behind was truly unbelievable! It was so hard to see what ICE can do to huge OLD trees ~ broke them and snapped electrical poles as if they were tiny twigs!

December *08 Photo Project:

I LOVE ELECTRICITY!

MY POWER IS ON AND I LOVE ELECTRICITY AND THE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE WORKING SO IT IS NOW BACK ON!!!!!!! Power has officially been restored to my home and I couldn't be happier!!! I never appreciated electricity like I do now! I guess I never realized how much of our world is run by electricity. I also thought that we would still have heat since our gas was on but I obviously forgot that the blower needs electricity. Our house was freezing almost below 50 which on a fall day 50 doesn't seem so bad but when your house is fifty degrees and the wood floors give you goosebumps you begin to appreciate 60s and 70s a whole lot more!! Along with no heat there were no lights, no refrigerator, no TV, no heat or light for Elijah's lizard, no computer, no microwave, no stove or oven, no Wal-mart, no Quik Trip, no McDonalds, no cool mist humidifiers (Elijah was sick!), NO MYSPACE (NO I am not addicted! lol), no blow dryer, no CHI straightener, no plug in air fresheners for the home and the list could go and on and on forever. But I must say I appreciate it more now and am totally taking advantage of it! Sad but true I have almost every light on in my house but for tonight I DON'T CARE! It totally sucked! Elijah got croup and I could not find a doctor or minor emergency clinic open until yesterday so he just had to suffer for three days in our cold house, poor thing! I called the ER but they said it was at least a 10 hour wait IF no major emergencies came in first. Well I decided not take him to the ER to suffer for 10 hours and catch only God knows what from all the other sickos! Isaiah is sick too however all the doctor seems to tell me is he has a virus. We were running out of firewood and would not have had enough to make it through tonight if our power was out again. We were only out about 2 days but I suffered enough and have all the compassion in the world for those Oklahomans still without electricity. It was such a shock and I was brought to tears I don't know how many times just thinking how long this could last and the devastation to sooooooooooooo many trees and lives in our area. It is weird to not be able to go to the closest gas station to get gas because they are either closed or out of gas! We take for granted being able to run to Wal-mart or Quik Trip at the drop of a hat for whatever we want and don't think twice until that ability is lost. We take for granted just putting wood to burn a fire just because until we have no more wood to burn and it is the only source of heat for our family. We take for granted lights to do everything until we walk into every room flipping light switches out of habit then feel stupid afterwards since we know the power is out! We don't realize we don't have flashlights or candles until it is the only source of light in which to read children's book to our cabin fever kids and get nothing accomplished but a headache from eyestrain and by then more candles are impossible to find. I love stoplights by the way and didn't realize it until today it took me 55 minutes to go 4.5 miles because all the lights were out and the idiots drivers can't comprehend when it is there turn at a 4 way stop! Man that seriously sucked and my road rage was almost off the charts! I never appreciated my job until I have been unable to escape my children long enough to earn money to buy them food. (My job still is without power by the way and as of today we were told by PSO it will probably not be on until Tuesday!) I have a whole new respect for electricity and the people who work for us to have that luxury! I also now realize why people went to bed so early in the olden days......there was no TV, no computer, and no light to read in besides the fact they were bored out of there minds and they needed to escape the nagging children. Oh I have to tell you all this......Elijah is 5 and Isaiah is 2 and they are hard to entertain for days in the cold dark house!! I read countless children's books by candlelight, played with every toy they own, sang every song we know, named every word we know that began with certain letters, played memory, Candyland, Checkers (hehe), Leapster games and tried to teach Isaiah how to play Connect Four BUT HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN ELECTRICITY TO A 2YR OLD AND A 5YR OLD? Elijah kept saying: lets go to Meme's - no electricity, lets go to Wal-mart - no electricity, lets go to Aunt Karen's - no electricity, lets go to Toys R Us - no electricity and the list goes on and on. Finally when Isaiah would ask me to turn on the lights I would say they were broke and then he would reply with "Need baaaaweees". When he wanted to watch Elmo on the "BV", I would say it's broke and he would reply "Need baaaaweees"! Then he wanted to go the the store to buy "baaaaaweees" because our house was "bwoke"! I was so wishing buying batteries would've fixed the problem! If only that would've worked baby then momma would've gladly bought them......if the store was open!!