Boy, was it a week. From beginning to end there was never a dull moment. Below are mostly things I have learned from the week and/or reflections to look back upon.
1. Don't procrastinate. Sometimes I should just go ahead and do things to get them done because who knows what the days ahead hold.
2. Follow my gut...always. Especially when bad storms are happening in the middle of the night. I wish that I would have done that on Tuesday night when the storm hit and taken the kids downstairs in the laundry room. Everything was ok, but it could have been a lot worse.
3. We wanted a neighborhood with trees, but didn't think about the fact that 80 foot trees can be knocked over by storms. We have a smaller one hanging over our driveway and another very large tree that fell to the left of our house. It could have fallen onto our house, but we were spared.
4. One should always know where a battery powered radio and flashlight are located...even in the middle of the night and pitch black dark. We spent the entire time of the storm looking for these to see if there was in fact a tornado near. Note to self: make an emergency kit pronto!
5. Power is a wonderful thing to have and when you are without it (for let's say 41 hours) life gets all out of whack! Hence:
-curly hair for me=not a happy girl
-washing clothes: isn't getting done. It doesn't help when I've procrastinated (see item 1) for 5 days before losing power about doing laundry
-At least Walmart had power so I could go and buy "necessities" for our out of town trip for the weekend... necessities=undies (I just wasn't going to visit the laundromat!)
-it gets hot even in May
-The hubs burns candles without checking to make sure they weren't special candles.. They were only our 25th anniversary candles we got from my Sister in Law for our wedding to burn on our 25th anniversary....
-Saying bye bye to all of our cold food in the fridge and freezer wasn't fun. It was really hard throwing out the food I had bought the day before. At least I don't have a membership to Sam's or Costco and don't buy in bulk!
-Sometimes you just have to send the kids to school in wrinkled clothes.
-I had procrastinated (see item 1 again) to hem my dress for Uncle Nick's wedding and sewing machines don't work without power!
6. If one takes her sewing machine to a hotel that has power because she procrastinated (see item 1) one should remember the POWER cord. Packed up the machine so I could hem the dress and forgot the power cord and foot pedal. I'm guessing it was because it was so dark in the house when I was packing things up.
7. Even if it's cloudy on the beach in May and you are pasty white you should still apply sunscreen. Really... just do it. I achieved my goal of having color for the wedding, but didn't really want the color to be red.
8. The SC/US government should really do more background checks on who they give government assistance to. We were behind a girl in Piggly Wiggly (yes, that's a grocery store) on Saturday in Charleston and she was buying formula and diapers for a child with WIC money. She may have been 20 and was clearly pregnant AGAIN! We walked out to the parking lot as she drove away in her Jaguar!~Really, do more extensive checks people. Some people need to get their priorities straight. What's more important, taking care of your children or driving around in style? REALLY!
9. Wedding Coordinators should always attend the rehearsal. I have NEVER witnessed a coordinator be so nasty! She didn't have a clue what was going on b/c she didn't attend the rehearsal the night before... she just said, "we don't do rehearsals"... maybe "We need to get a new job"
10. When you go to that big box "bridal" store.. you know the one I'm talking about. Starts with a D and is my brother's name. Anyway, never order the size bridesmaids' dress that fits. Most likely 500 girls bigger than you have tried it on and stretched it out before you. It was roomy in the store and then mine comes in and WON'T zip! I got it to zip when I got home, but it was uncomfortable. Let's just say I was ready to jump out of my skin after wearing this dress for 7 hours. It was only tight around my ribs, but rib crushing doesn't begin to describe what it felt like. Being claustrophobic doesn't help either.
11. Sometimes it's good to have no expectations, because you may get what you have "not expected."
It was a crazy week! Storms, no power, sunburns all around and my brother in law took the plunge into marriage. This week has got to be calmer... I hope! I will have some pictures of the wedding up soon.
