Let's just say, when I'm tired, I'm not messing around.
I got my allergy shots Friday morning. I only have to get them once a month now. I need to start paying attention to whether or not my body reacts the same way each month, because yowza.
We went out on our friends' boat Friday night. So fun.
The family, or safe to say BOTH families, are still laughing at my attempt to walk across a moving boat. (more on this later - I tried to include it, but holy lengthy).
Coach asked me to drive home, which normally would be fine because I drink very little alcohol (and STILL can't walk across a moving boat). I could NOT keep my eyes open though. If it had been socially acceptable, I would've curled up on the floor of the boat at 9 pm and napped mid lively conversation. I managed to stay awake on the drive home. Barely.
Saturday we had a grad party. I usually eat at home before a party in case there are no GF options. I didn't have time to eat before we left. The food was awesome and I don't think I consumed any gluten, but hard to know. I also ate dinner later than I normally do. Not sure if it was the shots, the food, the late meal, or something else but my insides were complaining. Not puking or anything drastic. Just complaining and waking me up crazy early.
So, I was tired on Sunday (Dad's day).
Father's Day I took Curly to a dancing competition. We haven't been at a feis (small competition) in 16 months. I've never entered her in the Dad's day feis in the past, but she needed to compete as a trial run before we head to Nationals in a few weeks in AZ. They only allow a small number of competitors at a feis now, so this was no easy thing. She had a basketball tournament Saturday, so Sunday it was. I also refused to travel for a feis, and this one was only 20 minutes away.
They promised a 'quick' feis. Show up at your assigned time, dance, and be done. All to avoid crowds. Epic fail there. We arrived at 9:30 am and left at 2 pm.
Have I mentioned that I was tired?
Also Sunday: Coach invited his folks for lunch. The drive is less than an hour. They live in fear of 'weather', so they cancelled because of a possible storm. Fortunately, I have many mouths who were happy to eat all of the food bought/prepared for this lunch. Still, my in laws have been doing this weather-related baling thing for years and missing life in the process - when the weather OFTEN amounts to NOTHING. There ended up being a small rain burst in the evening around 7:30 pm. They would've been fine coming for lunch. But, then . . .
At 11:30 pm, shortly after I went to bed (after snoozing on the couch for an hour plus) the windows in our room started rattling. A lot. It sounded like our house was going through a car wash. The windows were being hit with a STRONG spray. They were shut, but I was convinced that the shutters inside our room were going to blow open.
What, you might ask, did I do? I sat upright for 10 seconds and laid down and went to sleep. Apparently coma-like sleep. I heard nothing. Not the alert on my phone. Not the deafening sirens outside. Not the funnel cloud or 70 mph winds as it moved through our neighborhood. Nope.
Monday: I didn't wake up at 6ish like usual. What do they PUT in my allergy shots? Tank woke me at 7:35 am.
Tank: UM, ARE YOU DRIVING ME TO WORK? HAVE YOU LOOKED OUTSIDE? WE LOST OUR SWING SET. SOME OF OUR TREES HAVE HUGE LIMBS MISSING. OH, AND BECKY CALLED CRYING. YOU HAVEN'T BEEN ANSWERING YOUR PHONE AND SHE WAS WORRIED. SHE DROVE BY WHEN SHE DROPPED HER KID OFF AT SWIM TEAM AND SHE WAS UPSET BY THE STATE OF OUR YARD/NEIGHBORHOOD.
Well, I was awake NOW.
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| After I drove Tank to work at 7:45 am. The entrance to my neighborhood looked like this when I returned. |
I peeked outside and I could NOT believe my eyes. Driving through the neighborhood to get Tank to work was bazaar. It looked like we were in a jungle with the tops of trees in the road. Huge, 20 or 30 year old trees. Incredible, and sad.
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| The white house on the right is in the photo above, to give you perspective. Four trees in a row on the left side of the street and one tree (hard to see because a tree behind it is still standing) on the right side of the street. Below is what the same area looked like later in the day. |
As Tank and I were getting in the car, Mary Ann yelled across the street to me. Something like: HEY - YOU GUYS OK?
Me (while wearing my squishy, slept-for-9-plus-hours-face): OH, YEAH. UM.I JUST WOKE UP. I NEVER HEARD ANYTHING. WELL, I HEARD THE WINDOWS SHAKE A LITTLE, BUT I LAID DOWN AND WENT TO SLEEP.
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Our toppled swing set (Coach says too broken to be fixed) and some of the tree limbs from the nearby tree that lost its top/back half. Below is my new view out my kitchen window. That tree WAS so much larger. |
Mary Ann gave me a dumbfounded look. Worse than when her packages land on my porch. She switched to an angry face, like I did something intentionally to hurt her when really it was just us being idiots. Well, I wasn't an idiot. I was tired.
A storm was expected at 3 in the afternoon, but that didn't happen. My kids said they heard alerts on their phones, but they just hit OK without reading it and went back to sleep. Coach admits that he heard the warnings, but most of the time nothing happens so he ignored it. He sees now that this was a mistake.
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| Wilhelm enjoying watching the chipper. That grinding tree noise has been the backdrop of the neighborhood for two solid days. |
Houses (not in our neighborhood, but in the town adjacent to ours - where Delilah lives) were flattened. It's just staggering. Trees uprooted. Roofs ripped a part. A chimney toppled around the corner. A window was broken a few doors down. The entrance to our neighborhood lost 5 BIG TREES. It looks SO different. Barren. Fortunately, no loss of life. The immediate response of trucks and workers clearing everything was very impressive. 15 cars filled my culdesac this morning and volunteers hopped out to help people chop up downed trees. Heart warming.
Who sleeps through a tornado?
27 comments:
Wow, that is crazy. How scary. I'm glad everyone is okay, but still, that is so much damage. You must have been exhausted to sleep through all of that!
I would probably sleep through a tornado too. My husband and kids swear a marching band could walk through my room and I wouldn't wake up lol. I'm so thankful you are all ok and that there was no loss of life in the area. Sorry about all the damage, but glad it wasn't any worse!
Been there, done that. At my first job away from home, living in a trailer perched on the side of a steep hill above a lake. The other 5 occupants of said mobile home were clustered around my bed praying. At least that's what they told me the next morning.
So glad that you are all safe!
Tornadoes at night are scary because I sleep through tornadoes too. In fact, I didn't even know the suburbs HAD a tornado until two days later because I don't watch the news.
I'm so glad no one was seriously hurt or worse because it could have been so much worse.
That's incredible! I'm so glad that the damage wasn't even worse close to you. Scary stuff!
Oh my goodness what a mess- so sad to lose all those beautiful trees, but so fortunate no one was injured or killed. However I have to say I’m a little envious of how deeply you sleep! I wish I could sleep through the night just once! Glad you are all safe.
Whoa that is a lot of damage! I’m so glad you and everyone are okay (except the poor trees!). You definitely win for Soundest Sleeper. Amazing you slept through all that except for a little blip. Those allergy shots should be sold as a sleep aide!
I have no experience with a tornado, but that's shocking! The only thing I can compare it to is the aftermath of a hurricane.
My middle kid sleeps like she's dead. She's slept through a fire alarm going off directly above her (no fire, just the alarm decided to die at 3 AM, so annoying). She was awesome to fly with as a toddler, because the engine noises would lull her to sleep before we even left the ground, and she'd be out until we woke her up after we landed.
Nicole- it IS SO much damage. Driving around the past few days has involved waiting for work trucks to wave us through as they turn the fallen trees into wood chips. The area looks so different but really incredibly fortunate there were no fatalities.
I could probably sleep through a tornado. I have slept through a hurricane before.
I'm so glad everyone is okay - tornadoes are scary!
Martha - Yes, so relieved that the damage wasn't worse and that no one died. So freaky how crazy strong this storm was. I have a whole other story about that for another day. Stay tuned . . .
Anonymous - Yikes, a trailer home, on a steep hill, over looking water . . . stop it. That alone is making me nervous. I honestly felt guilty that I hadn't been more aware of what was happening. Thank goodness our top floor wasn't ripped off. Scary.
Kari - Well this is nuts, so much in common. I am surprised at how many of my readers are also very deep sleepers. (I was once the spring out of bed for any sound kind of mom, but since I was diagnosed with Celiac I sleep much sounder). I also seem to recall that many of my readers also don't care for those fizzy alcohol drinks, White Claws. We are kindred spirits, people.
Apparently none of our siblings watch the news either, because none of them called or texted to ask if we were OK and our town was ALL OVER THE NEWS. I had several friends from around the area texting me to check if we were OK, plus friends in our same town who had heard that our neighborhood was hit so hard.
It really could have been so much worse.
ccr - It really made quite an impact, and while the hundreds of trees in the area that were destroyed makes me sad - they can be replaced. People, not so much. Total relief that there were no fatalities.
Pat - It is shocking to drive around and go for my run and see the piles and piles of trees waiting to be dealt with. Unreal. The news people keep giving credit to the alert system that clearly saved so many people. I shake my head when I hear that, because it didn't save us - chance did. Curly now knows to WAKE ME UP if something like that is happening. I really do think that was a fluke, because I had something happening internally to knock me out like that. I can sleep pretty good - but that was really unusual.
Maddie - I am now very curious to pay close attention to the few days after my shots next month. I have some issues with sleep occasionally but I also have some digestion (not even sure that's accurate) stuff that I can't pinpoint. Whatever it was - I was practically unconscious. If I figure out what knocked me out, I will try to market it as a sleep aid.
Kara - I bet the people sitting near you on the plane were super relieved, after probably initially cringing at a toddler sitting near them. My brother was such a deep sleeper in college my mom got him an alarm clock that looked like a train and sounded JUST like a train. He still slept through it.
Gigi - Good to know I am not alone in my ability to sleep though anything. Put me in a hotel room with all of my people, well - that's a whole other ball game. Their every sound annoys me.
Relieved to be safe and adjusting to the new look of the yards near us.
I'm flabbergasted at the damage; the poor trees. I'm SO happy that no humans were hurt, but OMG, that looks like a hurricane hit!
It's crazy that the landscape in your (yard) neighborhood will never be the same; forever changed.
Have you ever had this tiredness happen before with the shots? I'm wondering if it was just compounded with other factors; like you never stop going, going, going?
I'm so glad you guys are ok. That was really scary and I'm sure all of you will heed the warnings next time: BASEMENT!
Suz - I do think it is CRAZY how many huge trees were downed in relation to how many houses were spared - at least in our immediate neighborhood. Yes, replanting trees will help, but it'll take 20 years for them to look like mature trees. Boo.
I have crazy tired days occasionally, and I feel like sometimes it happens after getting a shot . . . like later that night I want to get to bed earlier than normal. Since I only get them once a month, I don't remember if I've had this severe of an issue in the past. I have some weird stuff that goes on with my insides from time to time. The doctor just kind of shrugs at this point. Scar tissue he said last time, really? from what? Anyway, I'm constantly trying to figure out what the dealio is. I'm super careful about gluten so I doubt that is it. Hmm.
Yes, we all now know - don't ignore the alerts, and if your mother is unconscious - shake her awake.
Scary to think that you could sleep through a tornado. In theory it doesn't seem plausible, but...
My in-laws also lived in fear of 'weather' so I understand that. Sad how much they worried.
Ally - I guess this is the perfect time to coin the phrase 'it was the perfect storm' - because how on earth could all 8 of us stay in our beds. A few kids woke up but ignored phone alerts and went back to sleep. Even Coach admitted that he saw the alert but figured nothing much usually happened. Yikes. We have debriefed everyone that staying upstairs was not wise. There was an article in the newspaper this morning with the heading: DID YOU SLEEP THROUGH ALL OF THE ALERTS? I instinctively raised my hand.
Oh, the in-laws and there fear of weather. It is tiresome, especially because they weren't all that old when this began. They are still in their 70s now, but I often had disappointed kids at swim meets or soccer games. I remember how crushed Lad was when they FINALLY planned to come see him play water polo but when they heard it might rain, they didn't bother. He craved their support. That time, not one drop fell. They moved their winter home from Florida to South Carolina to be near one of Coach's brothers. They still have a house here for the winter, but they never drive the hour to see us so they really don't know my kids well. Sad.
I’m also from a big Irish Catholic family and love your blog! Do you have any tips of eating/traveling/cooking with celiac? I was recently diagnosed and am so overwhelmed by how hard it is to need spices and everything to be gluten-free. I’m miserable for a month if I screw up and I feel like this is taking over my life... Thanks for any tips!!
Anonymous . . . or should I say, new best friend, WELCOME! You made my day. Sorry about celiac. Yikes, I don't think I can fit all of my advice in this comment section.
Briefly: be cautious of food that claims to be GF. Cheerios claims it, but I don't eat anything unless it is 'certified gluten free.' Some companies cater to those who jump on the 'this sounds healthy' bandwagon, but don't really need to be GF. I eat GF oatmeal that I order online. I eat scrambled eggs and sometimes GF pancakes (a really new development for me, but tired of missing out on life's treats). I eat a cobb salad every day and greed yogurt. A fruit smoothie/protein shake. I cook dinner that's typically naturally GF like meat and potatoes and veggies. Then I make dinners that I steer away from like pasta for the fam, and I eat leftovers of the meat/potato type meals.
When I travel, I try really hard to take whatever I can with me. I live in fear of getting stuck somewhere without a decent option. If I'm checking a bag on a plane, I load up a soft-sided cooler with my meals and freezer packs and hope my luggage doesn't get lost. When I only do carry on, I just bring food and not salad dressing or yogurt (sometimes they toss the yogurt and sometimes they let me keep it) in my carryon bag. Usually in a kid's lunch box with a cold pack. OMG when we drive places, skies the limit. I pack a really cooler, crock pots, food that I've frozen but will thaw on the trip. So much of that works just fine.
If we travel sometimes I eat rolled up lunchmeat and a cheese stick for lunch so that I can order a salad at a restaurant because salads are usually safe.
I miss many things. I used to make a lot of pasta and meals with cream of chicken soup in them. There is a way to make your own cream of chicken soup. It's OK. Vit D milk, cornstarch, chicken broth. I get tired of reading labels. I love Mexican food - just not the flour tortillas, but I eat my tacos on a bed of nacho chips. I hope that helps.
Oh my goodness! Incredible. And incredibly lucky there were no injuries. I wouldn’t have slept through it, unfortunately. I envy you that deep sleep. Please do market the secret :)
Charlie - It was just so crazy. We get warnings about storms from time to time, but this was the real deal. I still can't believe how different the neighborhood looks without SO many trees. Better than loss of life, but still such a bummer. Still can't believe that not ONE of us thought: YEAH, BASEMENT. I told Curly next time to wake my ass up.
Oh wow. Glad y'all are okay. Tornados scare me and thankfully I have never experienced one. We get warnings all the time but they rarely reach the ground. I'll take a hurricane any day over a tornado.
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