Time to rewind

Life is not really slowing down, but getting to the point that I don't feel constantly stressed and out of time. Ok, maybe that's not entirely true, but if I keep chanting it over and over perhaps it will be true.

We've had a pretty crazy few weeks here lately. Last week we had a huge hail storm, then 3 days later we had a tornado. I've lived in Kansas for 21 years, I'm used to going to the basement once or twice a year, but I have never actually been IN a tornado. I guess I really wasn't, as I live 25 miles away from school, but the tornado came right through Manhattan. It damaged the building I work in, many other buildings on campus, and many many buildings and houses. Paisley was with her dad that night, and he lives in kind of a dumpy old building. When I went to pick her up the next day, the path the storm had taken was about 10 yards from his apartment!!!! They had some concrete stairs to hide under, but he said that it went right over his building. He thought Paisley was asleep, but when he shined the flashlight her eyes were really big and she said "woo woo all aboard!" I guess that proves that tornadoes really do sound like trains.

Paisley makes me laugh. Everyday. Some things I shouldn't laugh at, but it's so hard not to. She's lately gotten into a bandaid fix. I was hoping we could skip that, but someone (grandma) had to give her one. She got a blister on her foot yesterday from her shoes, and since that I think I've heard about her owies oh maybe 100 times. She is obsessed with her owies, and is constantly telling me about each tiny scrape or bruise, repeatedly.

Another area I've wanted to stay away from for sake of my sanity is Dora and/or Barney. My sis-in-law got P a Dora doll a year or so ago, and I was not too pleased with that. This one is plastic, and she holds her hand out and then asks you to give her something, like "do you want to give me my orange butterfly?" Then when it's put in her hand she says thank you and rambles some other stuff. There are about 4 sentences she says. This week I've noticed though that Paisley will press Dora's hand and when she asks a question, "can you help me find the animal that sings?" Paisley just says no. Then presses the hand again, "can you help me find the thing that twinkles?" No.

Our poor solar car. The team worked so hard on this.




My building.
My building, again.
This is in Chapman, KS, the town that was destroyed the same night we had our huge storm.
The frat across the street from work.
This is about 100 yards from where Paisley was.


A church in Chapman.