Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, Oh My!

So last week was pretty eventful in Stafford, VA. Not usually one of the biggest natural disaster ridden areas of the country, we had an earthquake on Tuesday, and hurricane on Saturday, and floods Saturday and Sunday. WTF, mother nature. As if a screaming baby is not enough to make you nervous 24/7 lets throw in a shaking house, flash flooding, and tropical storm force winds. Oh did I mention we didn't have power for about 15 hours. Yeah.

So on Tuesday, elementary teachers everywhere would have been proud of my tornado drill execution, the only problem is that I was NOT in a tornado, we were experiencing an earthquake. I live in Stafford, VA......we are not supposed to have earthquakes, but apparently they occur all the time in this area, they are just not strong enough to be felt all the way to Chicago as this one was. I was home alone, working away when the house started shaking. Now often this can be caused by the marines blowing shit up on Quantico. It rattles the house a bit, the dogs bark, and it's over. Not this time. The dogs start barking, the shaking gets stronger, and I almost crapped in my pants when I saw my ceiling fan swaying!

I had no idea what to do, but my first thought is get in the bathtub. I grabbed the dogs (Sadie Marie was at daycare) and got in the bathtub, then I thought if the top level comes down, I'm screwed.....I get out of the tub and run for the basement......then I thought if the top level comes down, I'm screwed like aunt jemima pancake flat, so I just stood in the hallway with my cell phone, that would not work, and the house phone. I call the baby daddy........here is our conversation and mind you at this point I'm shaking and freaking the F out:

Me: Did you feel that?!!!?
Him: Yep we are all outside....
Me: Should I go outside?!!!?
Him: I guess, You OK?
Me: I'm fine.....
Him: I didn't say you I said she.....Sadie Marie is she OK?
Me: OH, yes she's fine, I got a text from the sitter.
Me: Thanks buddy, I'm glad you are worried about our daughter, but a little concern for your wife who is home alone doing a freaking tornado drill would be nice too.
Him: You OK?
Me: Oh, yea. I almost crapped my pants when I realized it was an earthquake but I'm OK. Thank you for your concern.

Everyone was worried about Sadie Marie. A coworker read an email I sent and asked me where the baby was? Really? I automatically grab my dogs and not my baby. She was at the sitter. Geez. I know for sure now it's never going to be about me again, I'm just glad it'sall  about Sadie Marie at least she's a part of me :)

Anyway, funny story. Right after the quake I got a work related phone call and I'm sure the nice lady on the other end was SO EXCITED she got me. I don't normally answer the phones since I'm a supervisor but I was filling in that day and my phone automatically answered. I am the manager for planning my university's commencement ceremony so I deal with graduation things Here's the conversation:

Caller: Hello?
Me: Hello?
Caller: Hello?
Me: AH, UH American Public University System, This is April.
Caller: AH, Hi I have a question about tassels for my husband.
Me: Ah, Ok, UM what kind of question do you have?
Caller: About tassles?........she's thinking WTF of course.
Me: OK, I'm sorry, I'm kinda out of sorts, we just had an earthquake.....
Caller: Oh, where are you
Me: I'm home alone.....
Caller: Where are you
Me, Stafford, VA/Manassas, VA. I don't usually answer the phones. I'm sorry what did you need?
Caller: TASSELS!
Me: Ok, give me your email address and I will send you the link.
Caller: Thank you

So as you can see I could not put a sentence together to save my life and I NEVER did get her name. I'm real sure she was glad she got me on the phone. In the email, my salutation was Hello. Awesome. I'm such a professional.

So if the earthquake was not enough excitement last week, throw in Hurricane Irene on Saturday. The baby daddy was out of town, but Cunnie did come into town on Thursday so even though my husband, who is throughly trained in emergency response was not here, having your mom in town always helps. Luckily, he did send me a list of things to do before he got back on Saturday morning. Here's the list:

Ice
Move grill to garage
TP
Water enough for 3-5 days
Beer
Liquior
Wine
Flashlights
Batteries
Generator
Extension cords
power strips

Now please note, three of the items are alcohol related. We were supposed to go to Jimmy Buffet on Saturday night. Instead I spent that night asleep on mattress on the floor in my basement, with the baby daddy and baby. One big happy family. Luckily Sadie Marie slept through the whole thing however I did not. It was not because of the storm although I did wake up when I heard the power go off and the transformer popped and I could not go back to sleep because I had about three chainsaws going in the room with me and when I say chainsaws I am referring to Cunnie, Bailey, and the baby daddy. Holy moly it was terrible. The power went out at 2 AM and this was the rest of my night.

Cunnie would start snoring, I would say mama......she'd stop. Bailey would start snoring, I would say Bailey......she'd stop, Theron......he'd stop. Cunnie, Bailey, Cunnie, Baby daddy, Bailey, Cunnie!!!!. AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.........Sadie Marie is the only one who did not make any noise that night. She woke up at 6 AM and wanted to eat and so at that time the AERP went into action. AERP stands for the Airhart Emergency Response Plan devised by the baby daddy and I must say we executed it perfectly. Well, he did anyway. For the most part, we all watched as he set up the generator, plugged the frige and freezer in, got us lights on, set up fans, and assured we had coffee to drink. It's SO nice to have a husband who knows how to do that kind of stuff. Fifteen hours without power is not so bad when you have a generator that keeps everyone happy.

Sadie Marie may only be 3 months old, but she is already a seasoned traveler, she has weather her first hurricane, and survived an earthquake. Thank goodness we live on high ground, I don't think she's ready to swim just yet. She's already ahead of me but I can tell you if they don't do earthquake drills in school with her, we will have them at home!

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Our makeshift shelter. It was a hot mess down there but it was very nice to have a basement to go to just in case a tree fell on the house!

I also had a really awesome picture of Jules and I with our headlamps on but it would not post! :/

 I feel the same way about Bailey's farts Sadie Marie! This was Sunday after the storm.

Too Cute!

For some reason this won't save right side up. Anyway, you can see Sadie Marie was not excited about Hurricane Irene! This was Saturday night!

I made this rocker for her.....I don't mean I whittled it or anything, but I painted it and put her name on it. I love arts and crafts! I figured since we could not leave the house I needed something to do.

Love y'all

A