something different

After lots of tornado craziness...here is a happy post.

After the storm, we hung out with our friends Andrew and Lindsey. They have a baby (David) who is 5 weeks old. He was sweet.



I received my gift cards for the TV converter box. They look pretty cool.
I'll put a picture up when I'm on the other computer.


In other news...It's officially summer!!! I can sleep in a little longer, get ready for track practices instead of school, start cooking/baking more, work on cleaning the basement, scrapbook, and enjoy the outside Colorado weather. Yippee!

More Tornado Pictures

If you haven't read the last post, scroll down so the rest of this makes sense.
Today we went through 3 security check points (behind John's boss) to get into the restricted area so we could get John's truck out...but it was worth it. We walked around and looked at the damage for at least an hour. Here are a bunch more pictures:
The work truck was parked right next to John's...and it had a lot more damage. (see the huge dent in the bed)


His truck did amazingly well in comparison to this one which was about 30 feet away,


and this one,


and this one! (check out the big tanks in the back that tipped over too)


He was very happy once reunited with his truck.


We also saw a lot of power problems.



Here is the inside from the back, of the creamatorium.


The Doctors office 20 ft south of the shop building.


The "alleged" coffin holes.


Hole in shop roof.


Back behind there they are putting tarps over the daycare roof.


Roof beams coming out of the building just next door.


We decided to take a walk to look for the trailer that was parked out back of the shop...that was missing.


We found it in the middle of a dirt feild.


It had no wheel marks around...so we assume it was picked up and dropped out of the sky. Here is is closer.


Here is one of my favorite pictures...a tree just ouside the shop with a beam wrapped around it.


My cousin Jason (and his wife Jamie) came out to help from Denver.


A few from the drive over to the shop area:
Stripped trees.



We just Thank God that lives were spared during this disaster.

Windsor Tornado 2008

Hey all,
Today at 11:45 a tornado hit Windsor(where I work) and went right over-top of our building as we were huddling in the bathrooms with the kids that hadn't gotten picked up yet. We dismissed at 11:25, and I was helping kids into their cars...until it started hailing...then it was LARGE hail. We ran back inside, and I stopped 2 little girls who were going to ride their bike home and brought them inside. Then we went to the bathroom because of the tornado. I snuck out for a second to look, and I saw a big wall of DARK clouds. Durning the tornado we heard a lot of clanking, but nothing too bad. Our roof stood up and we(teachers and kids left at school) were safe. After the tornado, I grabbed my keys and phone from my room...and a school camera. I took a few pictures outside school because most of the cars had windows blown out...then there was a gas leak at school so we had to get out. We moved to a workout club down the street because there was another tornado warning.
After I finally got to leave, I went to John's shop down the street, and there was a lot of damage. I took a few photos before cops started yelling at me to get away (the wind was still blowing...but there was no danger).
John's truck was at the shop, and it surprisingly had little damage also. (It is in the "restricted" area of town and he supposedly won't be able to get to it until Saturday sometime)
It took me an hour to get home because of closed roads, and I had heard that Milliken had a tornado too...but it wasn't that bad...and our home is fine...except we have no power. We drove to Greeley so we could watch the news with some friends.
(We just got power back this morning(Fri.) I'm not allowed back into school for a while because of a gas leak...but that whole are is "restricted" and guarded by cops, so we couldn't get on the roads if we tried.
Picture # 1


Pict #2


Pict #3


Pict #4


Pict #5
Click on this one and you can see a lot more damage inside.


Pict # 6
building just north of John's


Pict # 7


Pict #8


Pict #9


Pict #10


Pict #11 My teacher friends and I waiting out the second tornado warning in the workout club locker room.


Pict # 12


Pict # 13
Building just south of John's

Pict # 14
Building just west of John's - Notice the crane in the background is still upright


For those of you who are curious...here is a map of where things are:

Sunday School Drama

This Sunday I taught the story of Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednigo to 4-8 year olds in Sunday School. I really enjoy them, and with the costumes that I got from garage sales, after reading the story, we put on a play. Everything was going great, and everyone was acting out their part beautifully. The king (who happened to like pink)was great at being furious with Shadrack, Meschach and Abednigo for not bowing down to his statue. She (the king) sent them to the fiery furnace! Right then Shadrack(a 4 year old boy) started to cry. Apparently the drama was too real. After a switch-out of Shadrack, a hug from another leader, and a safe appearance out of the furnace, he was fine. I guess I will think twice before doing a play next time:)

Dunk Tank

Our school has a Nickel Fair every year- with booths, prizes, popcorn, games...and a dunk tank.

This year I volunteered to "be dunked" for a 15 min. slot. While the weather was pretty nice (70 degrees), the water was COLD!

I got a pretty big shock the first time someone dunked me (and I got water up my nose).








Then I went in again...

and again...


and again...

Teacher appreciation week:)

I'm usually not a huge fan of cut flowers, but today the kiddo's at school each brought in flowers for their teacher. Because I'm a specials teacher I don't normally get noticed on those occasions- but today they did thank me!
I have a TON of flowers on my desk. More than I have ever gotten....ever. The cutest part was all the little ones gripping flowers for dear life when they walked into school.


Another interesting part of my day was when I taught the kindergartners what the "golden rule" is. (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you). They typed out the words, printed them, and drew pictures illustrating the golden rule. These were cute.

Apparently the one on the left is a sand castle being washed away by water, and the kid helped the other kid build another one. The one on the right is a kid sharing watermelon with another kid. (I wasn't aware that watermelons grow....so high in the air:) JK)

personal thoughts

Most of the time, this blog is kind of like a show and tell. Today I'm going to make it more personal. I think my change of heart for this one post is because I know the people who read my blog (for the most part) and I think they might find it interesting.

DEALS
I have been true to my Dutch heritage, and I have really tried hard to get GREAT deals these last couple of weeks. I think it has worked, and I have gotten a lot of things for very cheap or free. (plus I will be getting a lot of free samples in 4-8 weeks:) For all the work I put in clipping coupons and making sure I go to certain stores and double checking prices at the register...I have come to 2 conclusions. I love getting deals, AND it is a LOT of work. You may see I have added the "money saving mom" blog to my list of "other blogs I look at" on the side. At least it is a time in my life when I do have time for it.

Here is the free stuff I got this week. Actually the body wash ended up costing me 29cents. I didn't get the basket free, but I really liked it and it was on sale.

I also went to a large church garage sale where you could fill a box for a dollar this morning. I didn't exactly "fill" the box, but I got the stuff I wanted.

Another thing I was just looking into is how to get the government coupons for $40 for a TV converter box. All you (who like us) are on the "rabbit ears" plan need one sometime in the future. Next February the nation goes digital and......well you all know the rest. Here is a website I found helpful: https://www.dtv2009.gov/

HEADACHES
In other personal notes... I always get a really bad headache (like really bad so I can't sleep) that lasts for a day, about once a month. I couldn't really tell if it is a migraine-(cause I don't know what they are)- but it hurts in my neck, sinuses, head and sometimes my stomach gets upset.
I was telling a co-worker about it the other day, and I said that IBuprofen doesn't help (though I usually take it anyway), but popping M&M's usually made me feel better:) (I attributed that to the released endorphins when you eat that make you feel Happy.) I told her "It's hard to be crabby or upset with kids if your eating M&M's:)"

I had a revelation about the underlying cause when I read an article in the Sunday paper insert. The article summarized: Lots more women then men get migraines. Many get them around a certain time every month. Quoting writer Dr.Mitchell-"Shifts in estrogen levels seem to be the key when it comes to migraines. Part of a woman's cycle involves a slowly but consistently rising level of estrogen, followed by a rather rapid decline as progesterone shifts into high gear. It's during this "estrogen withdrawal" that women are most susceptible to a menstrual migraine." Treatments in the article included a combination of caffeine and acetaminophen (Tylenol), aspirin and Tylenol or prescription medications. WOW! The M&M's (caffeine) really do help:)

SHEETS
We have a king size bed, and the fitted sheet keeps coming up on the sides and slipping off. I have 2 different sheet sets and both of them seem to fit well when i put them on, and then after crawling into bed and sleeping 1 or 2 nights they start coming up on the side and we have to tuck them back on the corners. I don't remember having this problem with any other size bed, but maybe I just need new sheets. Does anyone else have this problem? Is there a magic solution?

That is the end of my ranting and raving for today:)