Blucky Weather

The weather here in Iowa has been blah and yucky... hence, the blucky weather title. Overcast, hot, humid, rain, thunder, lightning, hail and possible tornadoes. And have I mentioned... I HATE STORMS!

I am a big chicken when it comes to storms. Not so much now that I have kids because I have to make sure they aren't too scared but they still make me nervous. I never have an emergency bag ready so I almost always run around throwing some things in a backpack... just in case.

Today we had a severe thunderstorm warning with high winds and the sky by my house was an eerie shade of green. That did not make me comfortable so I sent the kids to the basement and did my rounds of the house. I turned off lights, made sure the kids had clothes and shoes on (you know, so their feet don't fly away in the storm), threw some flashlights and important documents in a bad and took our laptops downstairs to wait out the storm.

The kids were completely calm and no one complained about being stuck in the basement. That probably had something to do with us having three laptops and a tv down there and still had power to use them all. Nonetheless, they didn't drive me crazy like they would have if we were in Savannah still.

In Savannah we had to sit in our hallway which was right in front of the washing machine and dryer which made me very uncomfortable. Sometimes I would make the kids sit in the closet at the end of the hallway since it was the innermost place in the whole house but it wasn't very big. They hated being in there without me and if I was in there it was hot and noisy. The kids would fight with each other and fight over who was sitting with me. That is the great thing about having a basement... they can spread out.

After the first row of storms passed by, I came upstairs and left the kids down there. Much to my surprise they actually stayed down there for well over an hour. I had enough time to wash all the counters, do a load of dishes, clear the table and wipe it down, sweep the hallway, dining room and kitchen and clean the living room. It was so quiet. I wish it was like that more often but I won't hold my breath.

A second set of storms rolled through this evening and they didn't make me quite as nervous as the first set. The sky was much more ominous in some places but by the house it was mostly just a thick cloud cover with occasional thunder and TONS of wind. Wonder if my garbage can is still standing?

When John came home from work he found our garbage can had been knocked over with the wind from the first storm. Luckily that is all that happened at our house. Our friends weren't so lucky. Yesterday they had a flood in their basement and today half their roof shingles blew off.

Sadly, this is not the last of the blucky weather we will see. The forecast for the next 10 days is nothing but rain and storms. Anyone else think there might be something to all the end of the world movies??? They all center around crazy weather! (Well except for the ones where we are attacked by aliens or giant robots).

*edit* I have been informed that my garbage can is safely tucked away in the garage. Now I can rest easy :)