We are OKAY!

I thought I would share my Evacuation/ Emergency kit with you all. It was tried out yesterday and worked well. We had enough warning to get the heck out of here, but we were at a friends house when we heard reports coming in of tornadoes touching down in Nashville. So I ran to my house and put my "Scattered E-kit" idea into action. I was in and out of my house in less than 5 minutes.

Since I don't have a place to keep one bag or bin, I have a system and yesterday
it worked GREAT!

First, I already had drinks and food in the van, so that wasn't a worry... plus toys, blankets and pillows. 1 for each person. BUT, I am sure that you can add that into the plan I am using for the "scatter controlled E-Kit". Keep reading, you'll see what I mean. I keep extras in the van anyway. We change them out each week. So I was already set for that...

I raced to the house from my friends house b/c I knew we had some time. (I was away from home when reports came in to abandon Trailers and Mobile Homes. But I knew I had about an hour before we started getting slammed by the storm.

When I pulled up, I ran into the laundry room and I first grabbed the XL Ziplock bag in the laundry room that has all the E-Kit stuff that I don't need on a daily basis (flashlight, radio, batteries, change, can opener, etc)

After I had my bag in hand, I ran into the kitchen and grabbed the E-medical Kit that is kept in a sterlite container on the fridge. I tossed that and the sharps container in the bag... it has tylenol, motrin, aloe vera, glucometer, lancets, needles, ace bandage, band-aids, etc.

On my way to the livingroom I grabbed my household book near the bar (has all the info I need, birth certs, marriage cert, phone numbers, credit card numbers, bank account numbers, insurances, SSN, etc etc. All the info on everyone and everything) I tossed that in the bag.

Then I hit the livingroom. Since we can't have a spare change of clothes just waiting in a bin somewhere, I have a basket of clothes that is specially for this. It stays in the livingroom and the clothes that are in it stay there until the next day. When we get dressed in the AM we put our outfit in the basket on and replace it with tomorrows outfit. All I had to do was grab the clothes in the basket (socks, undies and all) and toss it in the bag.

In less than 5 minutes, I had my E-kit bag filled and ready to go, I was out the door and back in the van.

And for an update on us... We're fine. Exhausted but fine. We came home this morning and found a lot of trees were twisted off near the road coming to our house. The dog house was picked up, turned around, the back tore off, the roof caved in and had been moved. The underskirting to the trailer is mostly blown off. There is trash and sticks in the yard. I swayer, I want a huge net fence to catch all the trash that blows into the yard. The chimney was knowcked crooked, but the house is standing just fine. No major damage or anything.

Such a long week

It's been a long week for us. I made it out to get all our supplies and forgot to buy dish soap. Oh well, I can always get more. I've been pretty tired lately. I am going to have to get to bed at a decent hour because it is dragging me down. We're starting a business at the Flea Market near us and I can't be tired all weekend and I can't be sleeping in late either. So I am going to have to figure something out!

I would like to get up each morning and watch the sun rise. I really enjoyed that. It made my days feel so much more relaxed and enjoyable.

Last night I made baked ziti for dinner along with some puke dip. We hade a nice meal. This morning I was going over my list and I did pretty good this week. I also joined a yahoogroup for making a master plan book. I am hoping that what I am doing now AND going through this course will be what I need to get back on track and stay there.

I am going to work on the house today. I am tired, but I have coffee!

Balancing the books

I was balancing the books tonight and can't figure it out. I am off by $9.06! I know some of you are smirking and snickering. But that is a big deal to me! I used to just sit there and hope and pray all the checks cleared. I rarely checked the balance. I was too afraid. I got the program called my checkbook and I have done pretty well with it. I caught quite a few mistakes with it and probably saved us bounced check fees too. Haven't bounced a check since I got it. So seeing the $9.06 is freaking me out! Where is it? What did I miss? Oh I know I missed something! And tomorrow I am printing everything out and going over it with a fine tooth comb! I am going to find where that 9.06 is. Or go crazy trying!

Working on conquering the house!

Doesn't that sound better than "cleaning the house"? I love it. I feel like the warrior when I say I am conquering my house. LOL. This weekend we'll be doing the livingroom and then next week is the bathrooms and boys room.

I am trying to follow flylady but I find it hard sometimes. The concept is great, but the shoes are a huge turn off for me. You'd find me sitting on the couch for amount of foot pain I was in if I actually wore shoes all the time. I did find an alternative to it though. Putting on make-up. Even a little bit, like lip gloss, makes me feel better about myself.

I am trying to get my household notebook together but I really need to do it my way. The Before Bed routine and the morning routine are okay, but the zones miss a lot of my house and there is no "yard" zone either. But I am tweaking it again to make it work for me. I am not sticking to the zones as much anymore... my livingroom needs more attention than a few days a month. It needs a whole week of it's own too.

I am starting over again since I want to "spring clean" without traumatizing the poor house. I really do like the declutter advice she gives. I can handle that!

SOOOOO, next week the boys and I will be on AO week 4 and getting ourselves on a semi-schedule. Since I am home now, I can see a schedule working. But nothing too rigid. I panic and freak out if I am on set schedules. I can handle "after breakfast do this" and "before dinner do this" schedules with flexible hours, but I tried the schedules that have set times just make me feel like crud when I don't stick to it religiously. If I stray off it by 5 minutes, I feel rotten.

Well, I am going to go get bags ready for Meigs Ministries Thrift Shop and numb my mouth with ambesol and try to get to sleep. Why can't dentists just pull the teeth? Why does every last one have to be saved if you just want dentures? Why? Is it so wrong to want a pain-free mouth for once? To have the headaches, mouth pain, seering, blinding, throbbing, buring pains to stop? Is that too much to ask? I guess so.

This weekend feels so lazy

I guess it is because it is nearly 80 degrees in the house. I opened all the windows and actually FEEL like spring cleaning. I just have to remind myself to not get carried away with it like before. I tend to do that y'know. Miles has a friend staying over for the day. They are out in the woods playing right now. I can still see them. They watched a movie this morning and I am working on cleaning house. The heat is making me groggy so I am trying to remember to drink plenty of water but that gets hard to do sometimes. I'll try to get more pictures uploaded this week and put on the blog.

Still waiting

We're still waiting to see if dh's orders get extended or not. I am getting a case of nerves over it. I want the house to be perfect when he gets home, even though I know it won't be. I am getting worried about money issues and trying to get a positive outlook but it is hard when you are worried about money, house, hoemschool, etc. I am going to concentrate on the house though and try not to think about it. Is that possible?