Trains are HUGE!

This is a blog entry that I had posted on my old blog quite awhile ago. But, since I'm short on material and time lately for posting anything new, I'm reposting it today.

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I’ve only been in three car accidents as a kid that I can remember off the top of my head…well, four if you count the time my mom hit a deer. She just clipped the back legs as it was in mid-leap, so it didn’t knock us around or mess up the car or anything. I don’t really count that one.

The first one was when I was in elementary school. I don’t remember what grade, though. We were going home after visiting my grandparents and a high school kid pulled right out in front of us from the school parking lot. Mom couldn’t get the car stopped in time and we hit him pretty hard, but we were all fine.

The second one was when I was in 4^th grade. My parents, my “middle” sister, and I had gone to pick peaches at a peach tree orchard in my dad’s pickup. The back of the truck was full of baskets of peaches. A woman pulled out into our lane from the left hand side and my dad swerved off of the road to avoid hitting her. It turns out that she was sitting at the stop sign reading her mail and took her foot off of the brake…completely unaware that she coasted through four lanes of traffic!!! It’s amazing she didn’t hit anyone before us! Anyway, the truck stopped on a sloped patch of grass of someone’s yard. We’re not sure exactly how it happened, but the grass caught fire under the truck and the doors were wedged shut. My dad climbed out of the truck window, then came around and pulled us out. My sister broke her collarbone and I fractured mine. The fire was put out pretty quickly, but that’s kind of a scary memory. There were peaches everywhere!

To this day, there’s a peach tree growing on that corner, though.

The third accident I remember is vivid. I don’t think I’ll ever forget it. It was in December right before Christmas…in fact, I think it was Christmas Sunday (or even just one of the Sundays of Advent) because we were on our way to church and Dad was driving. (First, I guess I should give you a little history. Every Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church, we would hear the train whistle blow from our house about 3 miles away...which meant that it was getting ready to cross along our stretch of road into town.) Well, this one particular morning, we hadn’t heard the whistle blow and I remember thinking that was weird, but I was only a 6^th grader at the time and just didn’t think much about it. You know how kids are… Well, we piled into the car and headed down the road. (We lived on a farm in the country on a gravel road.) But, we had had an ice storm a couple of days before, so there was still ice on everything. As we’re driving along and getting close to the RR crossing, out of the corner of my eye, I happened to see the train rounding the bend about a half mile away from where it would cross the road that we were on. I didn’t say anything because I was sure that Dad saw it too…except that he wasn’t slowing down…and then, when I tried to say something, I couldn’t talk. I was kind of frozen in my spot. About the time I knew it was a very bad situation, my mom says, “Oh, my God, it’s the train!” Dad hit the brakes, but, with the roads being covered in ice, we slid a long way and stopped with the entire front end of the car sitting on the tracks.

(I have to interject that my dad has got to be the most calm, cool, and collected person I have ever met in my entire life!)

He just nonchalantly put the car in Reverse, put his arm over the back of the seat and proceeded to start backing up…only the tires were spinning on the ice. He might’ve muttered the ‘s’ word at this point…I don’t remember that part for sure. By the time we felt the car actually starting to move, it was too late. The train hit us at an angle and practically tore the entire front of the car off. It spun us around about a few times and then we finally stopped. This happened before seat belts were required, so when my two sisters and I hit the back of the front seat, it completely bowed it forward.

By the time we got out of the car, the conductor and another train operator were running back up the tracks to make sure we were ok. They said that they started blowing the whistle and braking as soon as they came around the bend and saw us….since they knew it was extremely icy out. We were all fine…a little bit stiff the next day, but not even a bruise on any of us. The conductor said that we left a dent and green paint on the front of the train. So, I guess we left our mark that day!

And a side note, those trains are HUGE close up!

What’s interesting about a major accident like that is how vivid the memories of it can be. I can remember the smell of the car and feel the heat coming out from under the front seat from the heater and everything. It’s interesting how our minds can recall such fine detail in situations like that, but I can’t remember to pick up the one thing at the store that I need once I get there.

Weird.

Adventures at the Fabric Store

I've decided that my life is just too busy. I will be sooooo glad when all of these little (and some not so little) medical bills and extreneous bills are all taken care of, so I can slow down a bit.

I've been working Monday and Thursday evenings at the fabric store, with an occasional Saturday thrown in...so far. This past Monday was quite the adventure. Those of you from this area will understand.

It was a night of STORMY weather. Seriously, the tornado sirens went off! And I was at work. And Nitro was at work. And Aravis was at work. And Muftak was home. All four of us were scattered to the four winds! lol

Nitro works in a place that I knew would make sure all of their employees were taken to cover. Aravis works in a much smaller place and I couldn't, for the life of me, imagine where they would put their employees if the weather got really bad. So, I texted her and she said that, yes, they heard the sirens and she was ok. I called Muftak and as per usual, he didn't answer his phone. (I'm really beginning to wonder why he has a cell phone.)

And where I worked, once the sirens started, we had to have all of our customers either leave the store or go back to the back classroom, and we had to lock the front doors...because the entire front of the store is all glass.

The sky just kept getting darker and darker and, at one point, it was as dark as midnight outside and the wind was howling ferociously! The asst. mgr. and I hung out at the back of the store behind the racks of fleece and watched the storm outside.

At one point, the sirens quit wailing, but then soon started up again. So, ok...we kept the doors locked. It was really weird being at work and just sitting in a chair doing nothing except waiting for a storm to pass. lol

About halfway through all this, a lady came running up to the front door looking pretty frantic. We let her in thinking that she got caught out in the storm and didn't want to drive home. She came in and immediately just started shopping.

???

Hello???

Seriously, we were both completely dumbstruck. I mean, really? She didn't know we had the doors locked for a reason? The asst. mgr. told her that she would have to leave or stay in the back classroom and she just was insistent that she needed to shop for some particular fabric for some project she was working on. The quilting teacher stepped up and said she would pretend to the be the mgr. and get her out of the store....or at least back to the classroom.

Guess what happened.

She left the store in a huff! I was just amazed! lol I mean, seriously??? lol

Anyway, the sky kind of started clearing off and lightening up out, the sirens had stopped, and the wind appeared to be dying out a little bit, so the asst. mgr. headed to the front to unlock the doors. All of a sudden, the wind picked up just out of nowhere and, in just a split second, I felt the pressure in the building completely change and all of the glass windows on the front of the store bowed in!!!

The asst. mgr. said something along the lines of, "Oh shoot!" and started running back to the back of the store. We both headed into the classroom and decided to wait a bit longer before opening things up! lol

It was a little scary and creepy!

Within about 20 mins., everything died down and the sun peeked out for a little while. We had a few customers that evening, but not many. In fact, the store was completely empty for the last 30 mins. we were open. (Too bad we couldn't close early.)

Very interesting night at work!!!

AND...I found some drapery fabric that I'm going to stretch over a canvas frame and hang in the living room, though. Just the colors I need for that room! (",)

Friday This 'n' Thats

How does time get away from me so easily? It's been forever since I wrote anything on here. Things have just been in upheaval, and then DST this year really threw me for a loop. I don't think I'm fully recovered from losing that hour yet! lol

I started a new PT job a couple of weeks ago. I'm liking it so far, but still have a lot to learn. I worked with the mgr. last night and we get along really well. We're close to the same age and have kids, so we have things in common to talk about. The only problem with this job is that my first "real" night of work was the first work day after DST! Not a good time to start a new routine! Between losing that hour and adding 2 new work shifts that week...YIKES. I was EXHAUSTED!

THEN...the worst part was, I wasn't scheduled to work there Sat., but I had to go to a Daisy/Prim (Missionettes) overnighter that Friday night. I got home about 2:30 on Sat. and just dropped onto the couch! Thankfully, everyone was out of the house when I got home. Nitro and Aravis were both at work and Muftak was elsewhere working on a project. It was nice to come home to quiet and have a chance to recharge before everyone else got home!

Besides adding all this extra "stuff" to my already busy schedule, we went on a rollercoaster ride over the upcoming wedding plans. It was emotional and frustrating and not something I want to air here, but everything worked out. Plans are back on track and all of the "stuff" causing the problems has been resolved.

Last weekend, Nitro and Shelby went to a marriage conference in Omaha. The married couples can get a hotel room and stay the whole weekend there, but unmarried couples are encouraged to come too...just not stay at the hotel together. (It's church sponsored.) Well, Shelby really wanted to go, so her parents said they would pay half if she and Nitro could come up with the other half. Nitro asked us if we could help out and we did.

I'm SOOOOO glad we did!

They both came back from the conference with alot more knowledge than they went with. Nitro isn't very good at sharing these types of experiences, so Shelby does. They've had a chance to talk about alot of different things and I am soooo thankful that we helped out with the registration so they could go! And I'm so proud of Nitro! He told Shelby that he wanted to step up and be the spiritual leader and head of the household. She said it was like, "AWESOME!" lol

I'm excited about all the things that are going to happen this year in our family! Sometimes it's very bittersweet and I get a little down that so much will be changing, but when I look at what it will be changing into, it's exciting!!!

I'm looking forward to all those new things!

What an Experience!

This past Wednesday night proved to be an experience. With Nitro being enrolled in the Marine Corps DEP (Delayed Entry Program), he has to attend monthly "pool functions". These functions are chance all of the recruits in the area to get together and prepare for boot camp. The "pool function" for March was a banquet for the recruits and their parents. They were also encouraged to invite friends who might be interested in signing up.

So, we went with Nitro, Shelby, and Nitro's best friend, JK, to the banquet. It was fun spending time with all of them, but made me realize how long it's been since I was 18. lol Nitro and JK are so funny to watch. They are so much alike you would think they were brothers. They are both very mellow and laid back, have quiet, more subdued personalities, and they laugh almost exactly alike!

Anyway, the main focus of the function was to give all of the parents information about what will happen when their son/daughter leaves for boot camp. Most of it at the beginning had to do with what we as parents should or shouldn't do. lol Everything they told us was very logical and made complete sense. Of course, I'm sure there were some moms there thinking, "They can't tell me what I can and can't do!" lol I was not one of them. I want Nitro's experience at boot camp to be the best it can be. I don't want to inadvertently cause him grief while he's there.

Then they let us know what the recruits were going to experience from the time they are picked up the night before they fly out to the MCRD (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) in San Diego. That is probably the only thing they told us that made the mom in me want to cry.

Nitro will get up on Monday morning at the hotel and get another physical and all of his final paperwork together. Sometime that afternoon, they will catch their flight out so that they get there sometime in the evening. They will be up all night that first night getting all of their assignments and things they're going to need, and getting where they need to be. Then, without any sleep, they'll start their first day of boot camp Tues. morning. The sgt. (I think he was a sgt.) telling us all of this said that their lights out will be 8:00 that night. I was just thinking, "And I bet most of them will be asleep before their heads hit the pillow!!!" They were encouraging the recruits to nap on the flight out! lol

The next part of the function was to give the recruits and their parents a taste of some of the training that they'll receive at boot camp...in the form of a couple of drill instructors (who flew in from San Diego) yelling at them. The Head DI drilled the whole unit while the other one walked up and down the ranks randomly picking out guys to drill individually. Nitro was one that got singled out. The DI even called him off the line and had him do push ups and everything! (I didn't watch. I could hear both of them yelling, that was enough.) Nitro did really well. He said later that, when they first lined up, his heart was pounding out of his chest, he was so nervous! But once they started going through the drill, he calmed down. All of them looked really nervous. Poor guys!

There were about 50 recruits there and we were in a relatively small auditorium, so it was very LOUD during this part of the function. Kind of cool, though. I think it made Muftak a little heartsick that he missed out on going into the Navy when he was younger.

I'm so proud of Nitro. He's doing what he's always wanted to do and he's looking forward to it! Wish I could say the same about his leaving, but my tears will be bittersweet. I'm glad he's excited about it. I'm glad he's wanting to be challenged that way. And I'm looking forward to seeing Nitro the Man at the end of that 13 weeks.

On to a New Adventure...

Some of you already know, but I've moved on to a new part-time job. Rick's is history. I just couldn't wait tables anymore. If I ever suggest, sometime in the future, that I might do that again...would someone give me a cyber-slap and remind me how much I said I hated it? lol

I got a part-time job at a fabric/craft store...MUCH more in line with my personality and passions! lol This past Sat. was my first day and I worked on one of the cash registers all day...interesting, considering that I have never had a job where I operated a cash register regularly! It was an adventure!!!

Backing up just a bit, on this store's application, it lists several different types of crafts and you check mark which ones you have experience with. Well, out of maybe 12, I only left 2 unchecked: quilting and another one that I had never done (can't remember what it was right now). When the mgr. had me come in for my interview last week, she mentioned that most of their clientele are quilters, so it would've been better for me to have experience with quilting rather than apparel sewing (which I have a lot of experience with). Most people don't sew clothes anymore.

Side note: I still have all the clothes that I have ever made the kids!!! When they were little, I made them a new pair of flannel pjs every year at Christmas. LOTS of experience sewing clothes!

Last night was my first "after my real job" shift. One of the biggest perks is that the store closes at 9, so I KNOW when I'm going to be able to go home at the end of the night. (There were several times at Rick's that I wouldn't get home until after 11...even though the restaurant closed at 10. That really stunk...esp. when I had to be to work at my "real job" early the next morning for a full 8 hour shift!)

Anyway, last night, there were only 3 of us working. I was mainly watching the front of the store and covering the register. The other girl was covering the cutting table and the supervisor was setting up a new ribbon display. Well, being a Monday night, it was really slow, so I did a lot of wandering around...straightening the fabric rolls and making sure things were picked up off the counters, etc. At one point, I wandered back to the cutting table out of boredom.

Ultimately, my apparel sewing "expertise" paid off!!! A woman was there with a partly finished "beach hat" and the pattern instructions were spread out on the cutting table. She had asked for some help figuring out how to put the lining in the hat. She pointed out that the instructions skipped that step. The girl on the cutting table looked at the pattern, but said she didn't understand patterns anyway. Then the supervisor went over it and over it and she appeared to be stumped too.

Now, keep in mind, I HATE butting into conversations or interactions where I wasn't for the initial start up or wasn't invited. It was hard for me to do this, BUT...

I looked at the pattern while the supervisor was trying to figure it out and immediately saw where the instructions explained how to do the step she was having trouble with. I pointed it out, then picked up the hat and the lining and showed her how it was supposed to work. Then I pointed it out again. She just said, "Are you kidding me??? I looked at that thing a million times and MISSED IT every time???" We were all kind of laughing about it, but I told her that the brand of pattern that she was using isn't always real simple to follow.

I made a comment to the supervisor that "I guess my apparel sewing experience DID come in handy". lol

It was kind of a high point of the night! :o) But it also made me miss sewing...I just wish I had more free time to do it!

A Remarkable Lady With Remarkable Wisdom

I'm posting a link to a blog entry by our pastor's wife, Ruthie, because it's just so amazing! I know a handful of you who read my blog aren't pentecostal, but please do NOT stop reading. Read the whole thing. Once you've read it in its entirety, you'll be...well, maybe a little wiser. I was. :o)

Why I Have Decided to Observe Lent