Almost Friday

We survived the latest onslaught of tornado weather. My heart breaks for all of those people who lost friends and family and their homes. This weather is insane and it scares me. We had a couple of frightening moments this afternoon where the storm really picked up, we had wind and hail, and Bruce saw a few of our roof shingles go flying across the yard. He ran upstairs into the attic and yes indeedy we had some water leaking in, trying hard to make water stains on the newly painted kitchen ceiling. But he caught it in time, buckets were put in place and then it was all over in just a few short minutes. Hopefully we can get this fixed this weekend. We don't have any more rain in the forecast for a few days. At least we had both made it home from work and were not out driving in that downpour.

Speaking of things that scare me....I saw the first snake of the season today. Ugh....I feel a shudder that goes down to my bones. I was at a customer's house delivering a package and I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. It was the biggest snake I have ever seen. Not length-wise. I have seen longer snakes. But this was the fattest, thickest snake ever. I am grossing myself out just writing about it. Out of some sense of morbidity I looked it up online just to see what kind of snake it might be. From pictures and descriptions it was a cottonmouth (aka water moccasin). They tend to be hugely fat snakes, and they are very poisonous. Glad I made it back to my car with nothing worse than a giant case of the heebie jeebies. The customer wasn't home, but I might tell him just as a warning that he has a giant poisonous snake slithering around his porch. Also? And I am trying HARD not to think too much about it.....Bruce found a snake skin in our attic when he was up there putting a bucket under the leak.

On a happier note (one that doesn't give me the creepy crawlies), one week from tomorrow I will be in Indiana with all 3 of my kids. That makes me happy. And Erica called this afternoon to say that her interview at the NIH is scheduled for May 16th.
Which also happens to be her birthday. And because I am a slightly superstitious kind of person, I take that to be a sign of good luck. I will be waiting impatiently that day to see how the interview went. I asked her if she could call me and then tuck her "connected" cell phone into her pocket so I could "hear" the whole thing, but she declined. LOL. You know its kind of crazy, but I had a friend who actually did that with her son when he was driving for those first few times out by himself. He had to keep the phone on, connected to Mom, on the seat while he drove. HAHA. Funnier still, Stephen actually did that quite a bit only the phone was connected to my mother's phone. He had a habit of pocket dialing his grandmother while he was out and about. She would call me later to say she heard music and kids laughing but he wouldn't answer her when she kept calling his name. Too funny!

Auto Pilot

I am on "auto pilot" this week. Nothing much is going on. I am ready for my short vacation to visit Stephen and Hannia in a week. Until then I am just biding my time. And after that? After we get back from Lafayette....? I don't know. I told Stephen tonight that I am not really thinking beyond that. Both of the kids are poised on the brink of some big changes. Erica will be finishing up her PhD over the next few months, and where she will end up doing her post doc is anyone's guess. She has an invitation to interview at the NIH in DC in a month or so (no exact date is set yet, but she is excited). Will she be in DC? She is talking about a post doc in Durham, and also Montana.....who knows.

Also up in the air? Stephen and Hannia. Purdue really cut funding due to financial hardships. He is planning to leave after this semester is over. The funding for research is just not there. Its too late to apply for fall semester to any place else.....so the plan is that he is going to start applying for jobs over the summer. And then another school in a year. No idea whatsoever of where the kids are going to end up. It could be one place while he works over the next year, and then another when he finds the right PhD program a year after that.....? No idea what is going to happen, but the one thing that both of them seem absolutely certain of....they WILL be someplace else before another winter sets in. Apparently Indiana weather is NOT appealing to them. Too cold. Way too much snow.....So.....?

Anyway, it will be a summer of decisions for the kids. My instinct is to brood and worry, but there is nothing I can do. I can't help out or figure out the best places for them. All I can do is wait for news and hope it all turns out well. It will. I am sure of that. It will be exactly what it is supposed to be for everybody. But if you could all send out some happy thoughts that wonderful opportunities open up for everybody, that would be much appreciated.

Things I just don't understand:

Here are some things that I just don't understand. Maybe someone can enlighten me?

1. This past Friday evening Parkers BBQ was OUT of BBQ. ??? What the heck? Bruce and Jerry were able to drive across town and find some at the other Parkers but do you have any idea how long that delayed Barb's corn sticks? And how on earth can a BBQ place that specializes in BBQ run OUT of BBQ. Thats like Burger King running out of burgers. Oh wait....Stephen and I had that happen once. LOL.

2. I give linen 3 stars as a fabric. It would get 5 stars for its comfort and ability to "breathe" in hot weather, but its capacity for wrinkling makes me have to detract a few stars. I own it, I wear it sometimes, but the fact that it wrinkles if you look at it hard just makes it less appealing. Still, we stopped at a dress shop in Morehead City and they had some nice linen casual clothes. But...and I don't get this...ALL of the linen tops had LONG sleeves. Why? If its hot enough for linen then its too hot for long sleeves. Needless to say I left without buying anything.

3. We had a nice brunch at Chef's 505 this morning before Dad and Barb left to drive back to Danville. They had a huge pile of shrimp (and mussels, but um, yuck). They did NOT have cocktail sauce. We had to ask for it 3 times before they finally were able to round some up. Maybe not everybody uses it as a shrimp dip, but honestly? I don't remember EVER eating shrimp without it. The fact that it wasn't already out on the buffet is something of a faux pas. The mimosa's were pretty good though so that helped make up for it. A little. But how does an upscale restaurant "forget" cocktail sauce when serving shrimp?

4. Why do weekends go by so much faster than week days?

5. Why do outside cats always want to be IN, and indoor cats always want to go OUT??

Well, I am absolutely certain that there are lots more things that I absolutely do NOT understand but I can't think of them at the moment. I hope you all have had a nice Easter weekend. We had a good time, but Monday is coming for us all to quickly.