A Twister is Coming

As a kid I was terrified of tornadoes. My parents just had to mention the possibility of a tornado and I got freaked out. Because of this I hated (and still do) The Wizard of Oz. Now that I am grown up I cannot believe that I lived in Oklahoma (the heart of Tornado Alley) for 8 years and never even saw one. Now I am sure if I saw one today I would pee in my pants in fear, but still, to see a tornado far far away not hurting anyone or anything would be pretty awesome.

It is that time of year again around here, tornado season. Mostly I like tornado season because it brings beautiful thunderstorms and much needed rain. I do not know the last time a tornado hit Abilene but I think it has been a while, but we have been under a few watches lately so they are kinda on my mind.

Ever since moving away from home, every place I have ever lived in, I have thought about where I would go if there were a tornado. Here they are:

1st Abilene apartment- bathroom
1st Abilene house- hallway
1st Colorado house- play closet
2nd Colorado house- basement bedroom
previous Abilene house- hallway, doors shut
current Abilene house- triangle, mattress over entrance

I know this is totally ridiculous but it was just ingrained in me living in Oklahoma. There we went to our bathroom and got under a mattress (which we did a few times). It was especially silly in CO because I think where I lived it was almost impossible for a tornado to occur, but I was prepared.

A couple of nights ago, as I went to bed I knew we were under a tornado watch. It did not seem too serious but I was aware. At about 3 or 4 in the morning I woke up to a deep rumbling that lasted quite a while. Now do not forget it was the middle of the night and I was not totally coherent, but the thought crossed my mind that it could be a tornado and what if no one woke up but me. So I got out of bed and went outside to check things out.

Of course everything was fine. It was just starting to sprinkle and the thunderstorm was far away so we were getting long, rumbling thunder with lightening far apart which is why I did not put 2 and 2 together. But believe me, I was prepared to wake up the roomies and head for the triangle. You may think I am silly, but I was not the only roommate to wonder about the sound...just the only one to get out of bed and go outside.

Tonight, while under another tornado watch that is not serious, we were discussing the common description of a tornado sound. I have always been told it sounds like a train, but we heard a train and were wondering if that means the rumbling of the train as it goes by or the horn. Haha, probably the rumbling huh?

I like reminiscing on my tornado days in Oklahoma. Hearing the sirens go off every Saturday at noon for a test became normal. I was always jealous of my friends who had basements. There was no scarier feeling than being in that bathtub with the mattress over us, listening to the radio.

One close call came once when we were driving somewhere out in the country and we were pretty sure we were under a wall cloud. Wall clouds form before tornadoes do. My parents were casually talking about it and saying what we would do if a tornado formed (pull over, lay in the ditch and cover our heads) and I just started crying I was so freaked out. Luckily nothing happened.

Anyway, I guess if I really thought about it, I hope I never see a tornado, but if I do I am sure that I will find some beauty in its amazing power and strength...just hopefully from a distance.

Quarter of a Century

I turned 25 on Monday. It was a pretty normal day since I still had to do hospital visits, work and class but my roomies did indulge me and watch a movie late that night and they made me brownies so I had candles to blow out. So sweet!

Balloons from my parents

Although my actually b-day was a good day, my really good day was the Saturday before. My wonderful friends joined me fun a fun time at the park. We grilled burgers, played, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.Wes the grill master

Yummy food

Many fun games were played. Our time began with Bocce ball. It is a super fun game that involved throwing heaving balls trying to get them close to another ball. That's as far into detail that I am going to go, but you should play if you ever get a chance. Check out the photos!

Good throw Kelli

Check out my Bocce skills

We also got to enjoy some delicious food burgers grilled by Wes, cookie cake made by Ellen, homemade ice cream made by the Lukkasons, cake made by Shannon and more.

Gotta have the cookie cake

The party at the park was concluded by the guys playing some soccer while us girls had a hoola hoop contest. What inspired this? I was at Walmart buying meat for the burgers and thought I would browse the toy section to see if there was anything fun. At first I picked up some bubbles, but when I saw the hoola hoops I just had to get one. If you think my picture is funny, you should see the videos!!!

About to Hoola Hoop

Soccer time

Thanks everyone for a wonderful, super, awesome, birthday. Yall are the best! Thanks Donald for taking all these great photos.

Britains Got Talent 2009 - Susan Boyle

If you have not seen this yet you have to watch. Watch their mouths drop! My mom told me I had to see this and I'm glad I did. How amazing for her. It made me cry!!!

Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews!

Exciting Day

So many exciting things happened today that I just cannot help but share.

1. Our mission team (most of us) bought our plane tickets today. These are not our plane tickets to move to Chile, but for our survey trip this summer that we are all pumped about. It has been 2 years since some of us have been there and others have never been. We need us some Conce time! I know some of you are probably thinking that it sure is taking us a long time to move there. I agree but the things we are doing now in preparation are wanted and needed steps. I have to keep telling myself that.

2. I rented a mini van for us in Chile. We are going to be rockin'! I already suggested we needed an awesome Conce cruisin' CD. Gary wants me in the other car. :) Any good jamin' travel songs you can recommend?

3. I found numerous real estate websites for Conce and got really into looking for apartments and houses. For living in a large city the prices seem pretty reasonable. Everything is pretty small but I am looking for simple. Things I really want in a place are a balcony so I can have plants, a full bathtub to shower in, more than one counter in my kitchen, lots of windows, and a heater. Doesn't take much to please this girl!

Well, I am off to bed. I hope you enjoy this Easter weekend!

Interesting Dee fact: I was born on Good Friday.

Our New Obsession

The new obsession in our house is the TV show 30 Rock. Its a show on NBC about a show on NBC. Confusing? Really the plot does not matter, it is the characters that are hilarious! The star and writer of the show is Tina Fey and as big of a loser as they make her out to be on the show...I want to be like her!

We only just started watching this season (the 3rd season) because it comes after The Office and it has now turned into this thing. Our house makes dinner together, our neighbors from down the street join us and we enjoy and hour of worthless, hilarious TV. We have even started renting the first 2 seasons. Don't tell anyone, but I actually think I am starting to like 30 Rock more that The Office.

The main character is this lovable, odd, casual, say what she is thinking, single woman who you just want to be friends with. She loves food, falls down, has trouble dating, has messy hair, spills on herself, is a bad dancer, but she is still cool!

The writing is witty, politically incorrect, culturally relevant, and sneaky! Because it is on national television they cannot really cuss so here are some of our favorite replacement cuss words:

Blerg! Nertz! BAMM-O! Runt!

Here are some other funny phrases:

So strong
I want to go to there
I'm gunna go talk to some food about this
This would work on Ugly Betty
Shut it down
Suck it
Do the worm!
This is my house
I want you to punch your sister in the face

Some great new slang terms:

Lizzing- combo of laughing and whizzing at the same time
Mind Grapes- your brain
Are you cereal?- Are you serious?
Brocabulary- vocabulary used by guys who wear popped collars and wear frayed-brimmed hats

We even found a 30 Rock slang dictionary !

Anyway, I am not trying to convince you to watch the show, I just wanted to share how much we love the show!