Surviving the end of the year.

Texas Tornado: 

I apologize for the size of the photos.  I haven't figured out how to resize them on my phone. 

 

 

Friday, Christmas Day was a beautiful and warm 72 degrees.   We went to my mother's in Rockwall, Texas.  We laughed about the daisies blooming in her yard.  

Saturday was rainy and nobody thought much of it until that evening.  My husband, step-daughter, and I had settled in to watch Star Wars New Hope when suddenly our phones started going crazy with tornado warnings.   I grew up in Indiana and we lived through tons of tornado warnings, so even when I stepped outside and heard the sirens going off in Princeton, I wasn't worried.  I didn't really ever worry about me but we started getting pictures on Facebook of tornadoes near my mom's so I texted her and my brother to make sure all was ok.  Thank God it was ok, for us.  It was not ok for thousands of others as tornadoes rocked North Texas.   At least 11 people died Saturday night including a 3 day old baby and a 1 year old baby.  The tragedy and devastating effect of the tornados hit about 8 miles from my house, about 3 miles from my mom's and demolished lives in the town where my brother is a police officer.  

I want to note that I took all these photos from my car as I drove to pick up some extra boxes of flooring.  I did not go anywhere that emergency personal were and stayed out of the way.  I didn't stop and look.  I wasn't getting in the way because there are still people unaccounted for and there is work to be done, as you can see.   The total chaos tornados is horrible and sad.  Yet, time after time, I have seen Texans support one another and I have seen interviews of survivors who show such strength and faith.  Mother Nature was unkind.  In fact, the tornadoes were followed by floods the next day.  Oh and it's cold now too. Texas weather has been very bipolar in the last few days and yet, Texans survived! People will cleanup and rebuild.   Everyone who survived feels blessed and in awe of the God and nature.  

Home work: 

Realizing how close we came to being a victim of this tornado made everything hard a little easier this week.  In fact, we started pulling up carpet in our family room so we could lay new floors Sunday.  

If you have never pulled up carpet, let me tell you it is nasty.   There is so much dirt and sand under the pad.  I have done it in 2 homes now and I can safely say that when we do refinish the hardwoods that lay under the rest of the house, we will be paying someone to do the job.  

(Sadie felt the need to make sure we were doing it right.) 

The new flooring went down like a big pain in the ass!  Because this is the room people use to go in and out from the pool and because the dog door is there as is the washer and dryer,  I wanted water resistant flooring but I also wanted something rustic feeling.   This is the family room but it's where my husband's deer trophies (things you learn to live with when you love someone) and a lot of his dad's antique fishing stuff hang.   

We spent 2 days laying this floor.  Halfway through I went to lumber liquidators to pick up a few extra boxes and ask what in the world we were doing wrong.  This stuff just wasn't going in easily.  That's when I got the trick that changes the ballgame.   A rubber mallet tapped gently on the corner made this stuff so much better.   By the time it was finished we were sore, exhausted (as you can see above) and my hands had so many scrapes on them they hurt to move.  Still, we have a house and we have life and we can still do home improvement stuff.  That's where I kept my focus.  Now I just have to find the right paint for this room and finish it! 

(Ries quality controlled the final product)